Local News

As the dust settles (sort of) on the 2022 town election, Marblehead finds itself with a new town moderator, Jack Attridge. The Marblehead native's election embodies a rare changing of the guard in this particular elected office. Attridge's predecessor, Gary Spiess, held the post for 16 years, and before Spiess, Steve Howe carried out moderator duties for a whopping 43 years. Next May, Spiess can partake in something he had given up while presiding over the town’s most significant civic meeting of the year: contributing to the debate on the town warrant's articles. Gary Spiess, former town moderator, sits in the Muffin Shop on a recent Sunday morning. "You have to remember that you're a conciliator, not an advocate,” Spiess said of the moderator role between sips of a black de...

No one has been driven crazier by the sound emanating from Marblehead's Crocker Park the past two Fourth of July weekends than Brian Wheeler. That sound? Silence. Wheeler, longtime chairperson of the performing arts portion of the Marblehead Festival of Arts, is beyond excited that he and his team of volunteers will once again this year be bringing an eclectic array of accomplished performers to the stage at the "gorgeous sandbox" that the Parks and Recreation Department and other town officials have allowed them to play around in for the past quarter-century. The stage at Crocker Park may have been quiet the past two years, thanks to COVID-19. But that is all about to change. Until its involuntary COVID-19-related hiatus, the Performing Arts program had been part of the Festi...

Thanks to throngs of dedicated volunteers, the annual Marblehead Festival of Arts has long been a sprawling event. There are so many features for young and old, it can be hard to wrap your head around all of them. The Marblehead News thought it might be helpful to put together a quick primer for visitors, those new in town or anyone in need of a bit of a refresher. For a complete listing of all things MFoA, visit the Festival's website. Exhibits One centerpiece of the festival is, of course, the visual arts, with six sites around town hosting exhibits in various media. Abbot Hall: Crafts, Painting, and PrintmakingSt. Michael's Church: Mixed Media, Digital Art, and SculptureUnitarian Universalist Church: Drawing and Senior ArtOld North Church: Youth and StudentOld Town Hous...

The Marblehead Police Department has announced the following traffic and safety plans for events in town over the Fourth of July weekend. Horribles Parade Date: Monday, July 4 (rain date Sunday, July 10) Time: From approximately 9 a.m. on Location: Pleasant Street between Spring and Washington streets, Essex Street Details: Beginning at approximately 9 a.m., Pleasant Street will be closed between Spring Street and Washington Street (South) by 3 Cod Tavern, and Spring Street will become one-way from Pleasant Street to Sewall Street. Essex Street will be closed in its entirety during the staging and movement of the parade. Parade route: The parade will follow its customary route, starting and ending in the National Grand Bank parking lot, traveling from Pleasant to Was...

The rise in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant and the possible need for a town-wide mask mandate late last year was not the type of "emergency" that permitted the Marblehead Board of Health to meet without providing the 48 hours' notice required under the state's Open Meeting Law, the Division of Open Government in the Attorney General's Office ruled June 23. The division also faulted the board for not doing more to ensure public access once it began to realize that a meeting two days later, also to discuss the mask mandate, had attracted more people than the 300 its Zoom account could accommodate. The AG's Office has ordered members of the Board of Health to attend an Open Meeting Law webinar training within 90 days and admonished the board that any similar transgressions i...

The Marblehead News' coverage of the town is free, and we'd like to keep it that way. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to the Marblehead News Group, Inc. by visiting https://bit.ly/3NxZ0yJ. The recent complaint that helped prompt the Attorney General's Office to order the Marblehead Board of Health into an online refresher course on the Open Meeting Law was not Allen D. Waller's first. Waller told the Marblehead News he has filed roughly a dozen Open Meeting Law complaints against town boards over the past three or four years. "Less than 100, more than 10," he said. Allen Waller Waller is a registered structural engineer who consults on various heavy and marine construction projects and also serves as an expert witness for construction claims. Waller explained ...

In response to an inquiry from the Elections Division of the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office, Marblehead Town Clerk Robin Michaud has acknowledged that her office violated G.L.c. 54, §45 by not ordering at least one ballot for each registered voter for the June 21 town election. "This will never happen again," Michaud vowed in her response to the Elections Division, sent June 27. Michaud assured that, in the future, her office would make sure to order one ballot for every registered voter in the town, regardless of their status. Debra O’Malley, spokesperson for the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office, said that G.L.c. 54, §45 does not contain any specific penalty for violations, but it authorizes the office to investigate violations and order elections officials to take...