Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
Be aware there will be hundreds of bicyclists on the roads early Saturday morning as the riders for the PanMass Challenge make a stop at Remington-Jefferson School. The water stop is a favorite spot full of energy and fun. If you haven't been, I would suggest making a visit sometime.
Photos from 2013:
PMC riders arrive at Remington-Jefferson water stop
Franklin, MA’s first Cultural Festival is up and running now through Sunday, August 2, offering five consecutive days of artistic performances and fun events staged throughout the Franklin downtown area.
Franklin Cultural Festival - Arts Happen Here!
It’s great to see another family oriented celebration in Franklin taking its place on a roster of quite a number of annual festivals and events hosted in this Massachusetts town of some 32,000. Here’s just a partial list of the events in town that Franklin residents already enjoy every year: summertime Concerts on the Common, the Strawberry Festival, the 4th of July Celebration, the Feast of St. Rocco, the Harvest Festival, and the Holiday Stroll.
Cultural districts help communities thrive
But the importance of this new Festival to the Franklin community extends well beyond the inauguration of another fun thing to do in town. The Franklin Cultural Festival is a key component of a joint effort by town officials, local businesses and Franklin educational institutions to have a Franklin Cultural District in the downtown area officially recognized (or “designated”) by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) under its Cultural Districts Initiative.
MA Cultural Council
The goal of the MCC’s Cultural District Initiative is to help artists, cultural organizations, and arts-related businesses to locate and thrive in the approximately 30 designated cultural districts that already exist throughout the Bay State. The Initiative seeks to spur economic growth and foster tourism in each district, helping promote the reuse and revitalization of older urban centers while increasing property values throughout the communities in which each district is located.
MCC designated cultural districts can receive support and assistance under certain programs established or identified by the MCC and draw on existing cultural resources to encourage artists to live and work in the host communities.
If Franklin is successful in getting an officially designated district, it could become another major step forward in the ongoing revitalization of the Franklin downtown area.
Can’t have a cultural district without a lot of “culture” already in place
The key to a successful effort in obtaining official designation of a cultural district is demonstrable community participation in the arts. The Franklin community has many valuable building blocks already in place that will support a vibrant culture district and should help the Franklin Cultural District get designation from the MCC.
Having a Franklin Cultural District in place should encourage some of the students at these educational institutions to decide to stay in town after graduation and practice their crafts in locally.
All these venues would help sustain the Franklin Cultural District by giving performing artists stages on which to put their talents on display.
Tourism and business good for Franklin
Franklin abounds with good places to eat and drink, which is important for the tourism aspect of the proposed Franklin Cultural District. Here are the eateries scheduled to participate in the “Taste of Franklin” event Sunday during the Franklin Cultural Festival in Franklin, MA.
A "Taste of Franklin" - Sunday - Aug 2
The Franklin Historical Museum is another asset to the downtown’s intellectual life and is a good tourist destination.
Franklin Historical Museum
If you are looking for more proof of an economic rationale for a Franklin Cultural District,Jane’s Frames is a stalwart of the arts in the heart of downtown Franklin. The Franklin Art Center opened in town within the last five years and has become a successful supporter of the visual arts in Franklin. The Franklin Art Center was instrumental in the recent establishment of the Franklin Sculpture Park.
Franklin Sculpture Park
A Franklin Cultural District should encourage more such arts-related businesses to open in Franklin, MA.
Increasing the appeal of Franklin as a place in which to live and grow
This post has reviewed some of the significant cultural resources that exist in Franklin, Massachusetts. These help make Franklin, MA a great place to call home!
The Franklin Cultural District would help tie all those cultural resources together and augment their beneficial impact on the Franklin community. Having a designated Franklin Cultural District would also further cement Franklin’s growing recognition among Massachusetts home buyers as a “destination community” on the I-495 corridor. The District would help Franklin compete for business and attract more educated, affluent home buyers. Franklin residents have so many reasons to support the establishment Franklin Cultural District!
"This is probably the most important and most influential commercial site the town of Franklin has," said Judith Pond Pfeffer
Richard McCarthy, an engineer with Kearsarge’s partner on the project, Innovative Engineering Solutions Inc., reasoned that solar projects do not cause the same headaches as large commercial ones.
“The people of Franklin need to say, ‘OK, we’re going to get $125,000 a year, but what do we then get? Do we get more traffic? No. Do we get more kids in the schools? No. Do we get more lights? No. Do we get more signs? No,’” McCarthy said. “You get a very passive neighbor that basically sits there and doesn’t do much of anything to anybody.”
Residents interested in running in the November town election will be able to take out nomination papers starting next week.
Papers for the Nov. 3 election will be available from Monday, Aug. 3, to Monday, Sept. 14, from Town Clerk Deborah Pellegri, whose office is located on the first floor of the Franklin Municipal Building, 355 East Central St.
Residents will need to return signed papers by Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 4 p.m.
All nine seats on the Town Council are up for election, as well as seven seats on the School Committee.
Voters will choose a new town clerk, as Pellegri is retiring from the four-year paid position. At least two people have already shown interest in running: Assistant town clerk Teresa Burr is considering pulling nomination papers; Diane Padula-O'Neill in late March said she would pursue the seat.
The ballot also includes seats on the Board of Assessors, Board of Health and Planning Board.
Although the project is in the early stages of development, a proposed natural gas pipeline would bring 21.2 miles of pipeline through Milford, Medway, Franklin, Bellingham and several other area towns.
The Access Northeast project, announced by Spectra Energy last fall, will reportedly bring up to 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas to the region’s gas-fired power plants each day to help keep costs low and save electric customers $1 billion each year.
The $3 billion project would directly connect to up to 70 percent of New England’s power plants helping to lower electricity rates as early as winter 2018.
Via Peg Forbes who participated in the Economic Development Committee meeting on Monday and provided this summary:
At 5:00 Monday evening, Franklin’s Economic Development Committee had a meeting during which three companies presented their proposals for development of the town owned land on Pond Street. Two of the proposals were from solar companies proposing solar farms, one proposal was from a real estate developer proposing an 85+ unit condominium development.
The members did not like the proposals, so this will most likely go out for another RFP (Request for Proposal) for hotel and commercial space. The concerns raised about increased traffic congestion were dismissed, the reason given was that “A traffic study will be conducted by interested developers”. In relation to the existing and available 246,000 square feet of commercial/office space for rent in Franklin (a quick calculation/approximation made by adding up what is currently on loopnet.com), according to some members of the sub-committee, that inventory has no impact. The reason given was that if the land is sold to a developer, commercial space is built and then remains empty, the owner is still responsible for the taxes.
The overall take-away that I got from this evenings EDC meeting was that the low community attendance (two) is perceived by a good amount of the elected board members as low community interest. (This was mentioned in relation to the meeting this evening as well as other town meetings.)
They will ultimately make their decision based on what they personally view what would be best for Franklin overall, not taking into consideration the potential negative impacts the proposed projects may have on the immediate surrounding area.
The only way to ensure that concerns are heard is better attendance by the community (significant, if at all possible), as well as communicating with the elected members via emails or phone calls stating the concerns about proposed projects.
The fewer people that attend, the more they are seen as "squeaky wheels" who do not represent the community as a whole.
The Town Council is scheduled to meet on August 7th. Their agenda will be published later this week.
Via Glenn Jones, the Davis Thayer modular space is now back to 'almost normal'. Almost because the ground will be seeded, grass grown, some plants returned and that takes time. In the meantime, the space is open and more welcoming!
