Top Stories - Marblehead Current

MHS Culture Feast a big hit, students produce video of event

1Jun

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Art, Community resources, Culture, Education, Local News, Marblehead Public Schools, Top Stories

MHS Culture Feast a big hit, students produce video of event

More than 150 students, families and residents came out for Marblehead High School's annual Culture Feast on May 19, organized by the METCO program. The night featured several live performances by students, as well as Kenyan singer, writer and activist Wangari Fahari. There was food from around the world, including food trucks Jamaica Mi Hungry, Bon Me and Cookie Monstah. MHS student Tamia Johnson produced a video piece about the evening. Her sister Tamya provided the voiceover. Students Piper Morgan and Alex Hersey recorded the footage. You can watch the video HERE. MHS students enjoy Culture Feast. COURTESY PHOTO

31May

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Local News, Municipal Matters, Public safety, Top Stories

Emergency sewer main repairs to cause detours

The Marblehead Water & Sewer Commission announced emergency sewer main repairs that will impact traffic on Thursday, June 1, beginning at 7 a.m. "Detours will be in place at the intersections of Elm/Sewall, Elm/Evans, Elm/Pleasant and Elm/Creesy," the town wrote in an email. "Expect trafffic delays." Residences and businesses within the workarea will be accessible but there will be no through traffic.The MBTA has been notified and will be operating a modified route starting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning, according to the town. The route will be: inbound Pleasant Street, right onto Washington (by the Three Cod Tavern), a left onto Essex Street from 5 Corners Intersection and then another left onto Pleasant Street and back out of town. The bus will not be accessing any stops past Sta...

Current Events: Marblehead’s best bets May 31-June 7

31May

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Art, Community resources, Culture, Entertainment, Life Style, Local News, Top Stories

Current Events: Marblehead’s best bets May 31-June 7

Current Events spotlights exciting happenings in the coming week. If you’d like to contribute a listing, please email Current associate editor/senior reporter Leigh Blander at lblander@marbleheadnews.org. Cod & Whale unveiling partyFriday, June 2, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Join the Marblehead Festival of Arts Board and the artists behind this year’s Festival of Cod and Whales on the lawn at Abbot Hall for a launch party. Get the first look at these pieces and raise a glass to kick-off the online auction, which will be live through July 8 and raise funds to support the Festival events and scholarships. RSVP at codauction@marbleheadfestival.org. Classical concertSaturday, June 3, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, June 4, at 2 p.m. Classical pianist Daniel Adam Maltz ret...

Current launches its comprehensive Election Guide

31May

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

About Us, Community resources, Local News, Marblehead Public Schools, Municipal Matters, Politics, Public safety, Top Stories

Current launches its comprehensive Election Guide

Marblehead voters head to the polls on June 20 to approve or reject a $2.5 million permanent override and elect many town leaders. The Marblehead Current has got you covered with its comprehensive Election Guide that features up-to-date information on the override question and races for Select Board, School Committee, Board of Health, Recreation and Parks Commission, Light Commission and Abbot Public Library Board of Trustees. You'll find news articles, candidate Q&As and statements, editorials and letters to the editors, plus clips of the League of Women Voters of Marblehead's candidate's forum, courtesy of Marblehead TV. Find the Election Guide HERE. The Current will accept election-related letters to the editors until 5 p.m. on Friday, June 16. To submit yours, click here or...

IN MEMORIAM: Remembering Marblehead’s ‘codfather’

31May

By William J. Dowd1 Comment

Culture, Local News, Obituaries, Top Stories

IN MEMORIAM: Remembering Marblehead’s ‘codfather’

Raymond C. Abbott, the man responsible for the ubiquitous golden codfish carvings adorning Marblehead homes, was laid to rest on May 23. His grandson, Derek Abbott, told the Marblehead Current that his grandfather passed away on April 20 after a period of declining health. He was 93. In the 1990s, Marblehead quickly adopted Abbott's golden codfish, elevating it to the status of other historic symbols gracing homes, including the majestic golden bald eagle and pineapples. Raymond Abbott, left, with his grandson, Derek Abbott, was the mastermind behind Marblehead's distinctive wooden codfish carvings that adorn local homes. COURTESY PHOTO / DEREK ABBOTT The golden cod adorning the facades of homes pays tribute to Marblehead's historical connection to the 17th-century fishing tra...

EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY: Renewing a childhood hobby

31May

By Virginia BuckinghamNo Comments

Opinion, Top Stories, Virginia Buckingham

EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY: Renewing a childhood hobby

Did you have a hobby when you were younger that you gave up? Maybe you didn’t stop because you stopped enjoying it. You just got busy with other things. Or there wasn’t an opportunity to keep at it because you went off to college or moved to a place that made continuing the hobby more difficult. I know a lot of people took up hobbies, old and new, during the pandemic. I completed dozens of puzzles in the last three years but as the world opened up, the boxes of puzzles I’d bought, thinking I’d keep up the habit, have remained closed. And I’ve talked to some friends who dropped their pandemic-borne hobbies because they were a reminder of that hard, stressful period. I was the serious-minded young kid in my neighborhood who walked around carrying a field guide to birds. In fact, with ...

CUZNER IN NATURE: A rare glimpse of kit venturing from den

31May

By Rick CuznerNo Comments

Environment, Top Stories

CUZNER IN NATURE: A rare glimpse of kit venturing from den

I spotted a young red fox kit venturing away from its den. The kit exhibited a certain shyness, yet its curiosity was undeniable. An inquisitive kit stares at nature photographer Rick Cuzner after the young red fox ventured from its den. COURTESY PHOTO / RICK CUZNER The exact location must remain undisclosed, but it's somewhere along the North Shore. The den, which is still active, should be respected. These photos were captured just a little over a week ago. It's interesting to note that the adult foxes often relocate the kits to new locations from time to time. According to both Mass Audubon and the MSPCA, two species of foxes call Massachusetts home: the red and gray fox. These creatures, predominantly active during the night and early morning hours, have demonstrated remar...

Spring ‘Paint-Out’ attracts artists from around New England

31May

By Linda WerbnerNo Comments

Art, Culture, Top Stories

Spring ‘Paint-Out’ attracts artists from around New England

As the late May sun set over Marblehead Harbor recently, the Arnould Gallery’s cozy second floor on Washington Street was packed with artists, their friends and family, and aficionados from the community gingerly making their way around newly-hung, still-wet canvases, the fruit of three days of plein air painting by the Arnould Gallery Plein Air Painters. Plein air painting (from the French for “in the open air”) is the practice of painting in nature, getting outside of one’s studio and working with natural light. It was made famous by French Impressionist masters of the 19th century including Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas and Pissaro. Max Lee and Jan Hardy, visiting Marblehead from Wisconsin, view artworks in the en plein air exhibition at Arnould Gallery on Sunday. CURRENT PHOTO / W...

Supporters tour $10M Abbot Library renovations

31May

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Local News, Municipal Matters, Top Stories

Supporters tour $10M Abbot Library renovations

About a dozen Abbot Public Library volunteers and supporters donned hardhats recently for a tour of the Pleasant Street building’s $10 million renovation project. Abbot Public Library Executive Director Kimberly Grad talks with a supporter during a tour for members of the Friends of Abbot Public Library on May 19. CURRENT PHOTOS / NICOLE GOODHUE BOYD “We’re just so excited,” said Kathleen Waslov, president of the nonprofit Friends of Abbot Public Library. “We’re delighted to see how well it’s going — and that it’s on budget.” Town Meeting approved $8.5 million for the renovation in 2021 and supporters have raised another $1.5 million. The construction, which began in January 2023, is about 20% complete and is on schedule to be completed by spring of 2024. In the meantime, the lib...

MARBLEHEAD CHRONICLES: The town has its own Cinderella story

31May

By Pam PetersonNo Comments

Local History, Opinion, Top Stories, Uncategorized

MARBLEHEAD CHRONICLES: The town has its own Cinderella story

The story of Cinderella is well known. A poor but good and beautiful young woman lives in humble surroundings, forced to work hard to earn her living. She meets a handsome Prince Charming who falls in love and rescues her. The Marblehead story has many similar aspects, but who was rescued is something of a twist. Marblehead’s Cinderella was a strong woman who loved her Prince Charming despite society’s censure, and in the end, it was she who saved him. She was rewarded with respectability and finally received the regard she had earned. Early in the 18th century, a wealthy young Englishman of noble birth came to Marblehead. His name was Sir Harry Frankland. He was heir to a title and lands in England. He was also a proud and sometimes rambunctious young fellow. His family had arranged f...