On a recent blustery Saturday morning, cameras rolled as residents gathered around town to film a short video encouraging voters to support a Proposition 2 1⁄2 override and preserve town services.
The effort is organized by the citizen group For Marblehead, which is producing a 60-second video highlighting what supporters describe as the community’s shared commitment to its schools, infrastructure and civic institutions.
Among those volunteering their time behind the camera are TV commercial director Tom Foley and his sons, Wyatt and Beckett.
“A bunch of people got together and thought that by getting more money into our town it might help with schools and services — and we’re behind this idea,” said Tom Foley. “So we donated time. I’m a TV commercial director, a video director, and both my boys are talented with cameras, and we’re just kind of all doing it together.”
Beckett Foley, a freshman at Marblehead High School, said the outcome of the override vote will directly affect him and his friends.
“I still have three years left in the Marblehead school system,” he said. “So if we were able to keep services, then it would be really beneficial for me and my peers.”
Twins Claire and Mary Kate Connerty also took part in recording the video.
“I don’t want my teachers to lose their jobs. I want them to feel happy at school, because they make me feel happy,” said Claire.
Mary Kate added: “The firefighters came to my class to talk about their job. I hope they can still come.”
The girls’ mother, Nora Connerty, strongly supports an override to prevent deep cuts.
“Everyone will feel it,” she said. “We all need to do our part to invest in the community we all love so much so it stays strong for not only current residents but future generations.”
Kate Thomson, co-chair of For Marblehead, attended the shoot and said the project came together quickly after residents began discussing ways to communicate the stakes of the override vote in a more personal way.
About a dozen residents — including students, parents and School Committee member Melissa Clucas — appear in the video, each delivering portions of a written statement Thomson refers to as a “manifesto.”
The script emphasizes Marblehead’s shared identity and the financial pressures facing the town.
“Marbleheaders are bound together by a fierce love of place, a durable thread connecting us to those who came before us, a shared pride in our storied history, majestic harbor, neighborhood schools and the traditions that make Marblehead home,” the statement reads in part.
It continues: “But the cost of maintaining a town like ours has steadily risen, and now fiscal pressure threatens our core institutions, our infrastructure, schools, library, senior center and more.”
Thomson said the video aims to complement ongoing budget discussions by focusing on community values rather than financial details.
“I think the big thing for us is that so much of this conversation about overrides and taxes and what we will or won’t lose is very practical,” she said. “It’s very numbers driven, and it can get very heady. But at the core and root of all of it is this idea that, one thing we can all be, one thing we can all agree on, is that we’re all bragging about Marblehead to our friends, we’re all inviting people here for the Fourth. Everybody has this fierce love of the town, and we all want to do the right thing for it.”
Thomson added that the goal is “lifting ourselves out of that very detailed numbers conversation and reminding ourselves of our dedication to the place.”
The finished video can be viewed at formarblehead.org.
