Culture - Marblehead Current

02 Oct

The Marblehead Farmers’ Market Oct. 8

Will Dowd0 CommentsBusiness, Culture, Local News, Nonprofit corner

Shoppers can expect to find apples, pumpkins, peppers, potatoes, onions, winter squash, broccoli, radishes, beets, carrots, fresh ginger, turmeric, corn, tomatoes, and a variety of salad and cooking greens at the Farmers’ Market this Saturday. Farms will also have pork, eggs, beef, chicken, cheese, cured meats, cut flowers, maple products, honey, and much more. Farms this season are: Grant Family Farm with farm fresh eggs, cut flowers, and vegetables. Bear Hill Farm will have pork, vegetables, and local fruit. Brookford Farm will have vegetables, meat, cheese, fermented…

28 Sep

Marblehead Housing Authority vacancy opens after commissioner resigns

Will Dowd0 CommentsCommunity Resources, Culture, Local News, Municipal Matters, Politics, Top Stories

The Marblehead Housing Authority Board of Commissioners has an open seat after Joan Cutler submitted her resignation from the five-member board in early September. "Cutler submitted her resignation on Sept. 6 as an elected member of the Marblehead Housing Authority," Marblehead Town Clerk Robin Michaud told the Select Board. "The resignation is effective Sept. 15." The vacancy comes in the second year of Cutler's five year term - set to expire in June of 2025. Cathy Hoog, the executive director of the Marblehead Housing Authority,…

25 Sep

In Marblehead, Agnes stone re-dedicated before dozens atop Old Burial Hill

Will Dowd0 CommentsCulture, Local News, Municipal Matters, Obituaries, Top Stories

Dozens gathered at Old Burial Hill on Sunday afternoon for the re-dedication of a very important headstone. The headstone, carved in African granite and crafted by Dan Cedrone of Marblehead Memorials, belongs to Agnes. Dozens gathered at Old Burial Hill on Sunday afternoon for the re-dedication of a very important headstone. Agnes worked as a slave for the Russell family who lived in Marblehead. She was baptized at St Michael's Episcopal Church and buried on Old Burial Hill where her headstone remained unmoved from 1718…

23 Sep

JoAnne Mayer, the third woman elected to the Marblehead Select Board, dies at 95

Will Dowd0 CommentsCulture, Local News, Municipal Matters, Obituaries, Top Stories

JoAnne Norton Mayer, a Marblehead native who was deeply engaged in civic life in town, the third woman elected to the Marblehead Board of Selectmen (now the Select Board) and a talented sailor, died Monday. She was 95. Civic engagement and public service were cornerstones in Mayer’s life. Her tenure on Marblehead’s highest elected board, now called the Marblehead Select Board, from 1983 - 1987 began four years after the town’s second selectwoman, Marilyn A. Reis, who served from 1975-1979, finished out her service on…

21 Sep

Marblehead nonprofits clean up in Mass Cultural Council’s latest facilities funding round

Will Dowd0 CommentsCommunity Resources, Culture, Local News, Municipal Matters, Nonprofit corner, Top Stories

Massachusetts Cultural Council and MassDevelopment awarded over $13 million from the Facilities Grant Fund in the spring, but the tail-end of COVID-19 protracted the party celebrating grantees and their projects until Monday afternoon in Lowell. The two state agencies awarded a trio of Marblehead nonprofits a cumulative $217,000 - with the Marblehead Museum taking home the biggest check: $150,000 among the three organizations. The Washington Street nonprofit will utilize the money to preserve and restore its acquisition of the 1768 Jeremiah Lee Brick Kitchen and…

21 Sep

Marblehead Cultural Council puts call out for grant proposals

Will Dowd0 CommentsBusiness, Community Resources, Culture, Entertainment, Local History, Local News, Municipal Matters, Nonprofit corner, Top Stories

Marblehead Cultural Council members may be budgeted less than $10,000 annually, but their small-grant awards plant artistic seeds, cultivate community and promote excellence throughout the arts, culture, humanities and interpretive sciences in town. Massachusetts Cultural Council provides millions of dollars (about $5.5 million in the Fiscal Year 2023) to the 329 local cultural councils across the Bay State. A town's population determines its appropriation from the pool of state funding. In the last funding round, the dollar amounts of grants ranged from as little as…

20 Sep

INA’S INSIGHTS: A Marblehead story of a 2nd-generation exchange

Will Dowd1 CommentCulture, Local News, Nonprofit corner, Opinion, Viewpoints

When Marblehead resident Maura Phelan was a senior at Marblehead High School in 1985, she befriended Majo Amoros, an exchange student from Spain. She was staying with a family whose daughter went to Pingree, and Phelan and Amoros spent a great deal of time together and pledged one day their children would visit back and forth. This summer, on Aug. 5, Jacobo Llorens, Amoros’ nephew, arrived with a school friend, Jesus Martinez to live for a month with Phelan and her two sons, Conor and Owen Murnane.…

19 Sep

ANCHORS AND SAILS: Rest in peace, your majesty

Will Dowd1 CommentCulture, Local News, Opinion, Viewpoints

“We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English." Winston Churchill Winston Churchill saw a lot during his time in British politics and service. He led England through World War II and, after being defeated in an election in 1945, came back to power in 1951 for another four years. He was right about the Irish. We are all a little odd and do not want to be English. Given the two countries' history, back to Cromwell, it's not hard…

19 Sep

Honoring Agnes: Special dedication on Old Burial Hill for enslaved woman

Leigh Blander1 CommentCulture, Local History, Local News, Municipal Matters, Religion, Top Stories

The new, historically accurate gravestone for Agnes, an enslaved woman in Marblehead More than 300 years after she died, a new gravestone will be dedicated at Old Burial Hill for Agnes (or Agnis, see below for an explanation of the two spellings), an enslaved woman who lived in Marblehead at the turn of the 18th century. The Marblehead Racial Justice Team (MRJT) will lead the ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 25, after raising $7,000 for the project. “We know that Agnes’ grave is an emblem,” said…

15 Sep

In Marblehead, Cecropia Strong gala & auctions to benefit people with physical disabilities

Will Dowd0 CommentsCommunity Resources, Culture, Local News, Nonprofit corner

Cecropia Strong will host its Second Annual Gala & Auctions on Sunday, Oct. 16, with proceeds funding the organization’s mission to help and provide hope for those who are physically disabled. The event will take place at The Masons’ Philanthropic Lodge, 62 Pleasant St., in Marblehead, and will be catered by Louise Moore and Every Little Breeze. Cecropia Strong was founded by Julie Hahnke (Marblehead bagpiper, author, and management consultant) after surviving a stroke, discovering what it meant to be seriously disabled, and then fighting…