Since 2005: More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.
There are plenty of colorful runners’ outfits to be seen on the streets of Wellesley, but the Couch to 5K crew always steps it up a notch or two for its annual Holiday Run. The runners stopped in to local businesses, sang carols, and worked up a sweat. Thanks to Annie Rolincik for sharing these photos.
More: Happy winter solstice, Wellesley
From the Wellesley Town Clerk’s office:
The Town Clerk’s office will begin accepting absentee ballot applications on January 1, 2020.
Residents, including college students, who are registered to vote in Wellesley but will be away during the 2020 elections should request an absentee ballot and make your vote count.
Stop by the Town Clerk’s office at Town Hall to pick up an application. If you aren’t yet registered to vote, you may register at the same time.
Or download the online absentee ballot application, fill it out and mail it to Town Clerk, Town of Wellesley, 525 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA 02482.
Regular office hours are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Please note: the Clerk’s office will close at noon on December 24 and December 31 and be closed all day on December 25 and January 1.
Election events scheduled in 2020 include:
Wellesley Police log for the week of Dec. 16-21:
On December 16, 2019 at 1:37 p.m. Officer Cunningham assisted Lt. Cunningham with a motor vehicle stop on Worcester Street near Route 128. Lt. Cunningham relayed to Officer Cunningham that he had witnessed a Toyota sedan traveling eastbound on Worcester Street at Route 16 when it proceeded through a red light nearly causing a collision. Lt. Cunningham stopped the vehicle and a query of the information showed that the operator had a suspended license. She was taken into custody, transported to the station, booked in the usual manner and later released on personal recognizance.
On December 17, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. Officer Mankavech observed an Audi sedan traveling on Barton Road and crash into a utility pole. He spoke with the operator, and requested his license and registration. A query of his information showed there was an active warrant for his arrest for motor vehicle related offenses and his license was suspended. He was taken into custody, transported to the station, booked in the usual manner, afforded all rights and transported to Dedham District Court.
On December 18, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. Officer Mankavech was conducting traffic enforcement on Washington Street near Chapel Place when he observed a motor vehicle with a defective registration plate and stopped the vehicle. A query of the operator’s information showed that there were two straight warrants issued by the Framingham District Court for Possession of a Class A Drug and Larceny Under $1,200, Forgery of a Document and Uttering a False Document. He was taken into custody, transported to the station, booked in the usual manner, afforded all rights and transported to Framingham District Court.
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On December 19, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. Officer Shore was conducting traffic enforcement on Worcester Street at Washington Street when he observed a Chevrolet pickup truck drive past his location and conducted a random query of the vehicle’s information. The query showed that the registered owner’s license was suspended. Officer Shore stopped the vehicle and spoke with the operator and registered owner, and asked for his license and registration. Officer Shore asked the driver if he was aware that his license was suspended and he indicated that he was. He was taken into custody, transported to the station, booked in the usual manner, afforded all rights transported to Dedham District Court.
On December 16, 2019 at 4:15 p.m. Officer Pino spoke with a resident regarding stolen watches. The report is incomplete at this time and no further information is available.
On December 17, 2019 at 12:08 p.m. Officer Cunningham spoke with a female reporting party who stated while driving on Walnut Street she observed the operator of a Bobcat punch the operator of a motor vehicle in the head several times. The reporting party provided the vehicle description and registration number of the vehicle. Officer Cunningham was able to locate a phone number for the registered owner of the vehicle who stated that while exiting a
Happy holidays, Wellesley. By now you’re probably ready to slow down, set aside the to-do list, and contemplate the reason for the season. Some of Wellesley’s houses of worship celebrate with all the formality you might expect from historic churches with Puritan roots, while others have a more casual flair or take a non-denominational approach to the holidays. All the services bring people together, and all are welcome. Here’s a list of upcoming Wellesley services:
8 Rockland St, 781-235-1114
Regular services on Sunday, December 29, 10am. All are welcome.
42 Elmwood Rd., Wellesley
217 We. Central St., Natick
Live music, candlelight singing, Christmas message, and extravagant cookie bar with a variety of cookies, hot cocoa, apple cider, and more.
Milestone Wellesley @ 4:30pm Milestone Natick @ 6:30pm
**Tickets are not required to attend but encouraged to help for seating and parking
79 Denton Rd., 781-235-7310
Christmas Eve Services: Tue., December 24, 3pm, 5pm, 10pm
Christmas Day Service: Wed., December 25, 10am
Christmas Lessons & Carols: Sun., December 29, 10am
Epiphany Fireside Service & Potluck: Sun., January 5, 5pm
9 Glen Rd., 781-235-0045
Christmas Eve
4pm Family Mass (3:30 Youth Choir Prelude and Carols)
4pm Mass in Philbin Hall (St. John School Hall)
6pm Mass
10pm Mass (9:30pm Choir Prelude and Carols)
Christmas Day
10:30am Mass (10am Choir Prelude and Carols)
502 Washington St., 781-235-1060
Christmas Eve
4pm Masses (Masses are in Church and Parish Hall)
6pm Family Mass (Children’s Choir and Pageant)
8pm Mass (7:30pm Choir Prelude and Carols)
12:00 Midnight Mass (11:30 Youth Music Group Prelude and Carols)
Christmas Day
11am Mass (10:30am Choir Prelude and Carols)
10 Bethel Rd., 781-235-8419
Chanukah is celebrated December 22 – 30 this year. TBE notes, “Chanukah, meaning “dedication” in Hebrew, is an eight-day festival commemorating the victory of a small group of Jewish rebels over the armies of Syria in 165 B.C.E. and the subsequent liberation and rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem.” MORE
309 Washington St., 781-235-9423
Caroling and Christmas Eve Service Tue., December 24, 5:30pm
2 Central St., 781-235-1988
Christmas Eve Worship (Family Service, Christmas Pageant), Tue., December 24, 4pm
Christmas Eve Worship (Candlelight Service with Senior Choir), Tue., December 24, 8pm
Christmas Eve Worship (Candlelight Service with Youth Choir, Tue., December 24, 10pm
207 Washington St., 781-235-4424
Family Christmas Pageant, Tue., December 24, 3:30pm
Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols, Tue., December 24, 6pm (Prelude of music begins at 5:45pm)
Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols, Tue., December 24, 9:30pm (Prelude of music begins at 9:15pm)
26 Benvenue St., 781-237-0268
Christmas Eve worship by firelight and candlelight, Tue., December 24, 4pm – 5pm
Worship followed by ham, egg nog, and fixings. Contributions gratefully accepted toward the cost of the hams. Any extra money will be donated to charity.
Longtime Wellesley resident and entrepreneur Josh Fink says he and his wife were intrigued by the waffle cabins they came across at ski resorts, lamenting that the delicious treats served up were only available for one season out of the year.
So six months ago Fink bought himself a former smoothie truck and started converting it to dole out Liege Belgian waffles on the streets of Wellesley and beyond. The Board of Selectmen just gave the truck its blessing and other waffle truck approvals are being ironed out.
“This will take the ice cream truck up a notch,”says Fink, owner of the Liege Belgian Waffle Factory, which he envisions satisfying snackers between meals and those looking for dessert after meals. “Kids will love it, adults will love it.”
While Fink has plenty of other business activities going, including an equity fund, he plans to spend ample time in the truck. He says it brings him back to his roots in the culinary field, which included a stint at the Four Seasons. He even used to help out at the Pillar House, which once stood in Newton just over the Wellesley town line where highways criss-cross.
Operating the waffle truck brings him back to his 20s, Fink says, and gives him a chance to interact with people and just “clear my head.”
Fink describes Liege waffles as one of Belgium’s iconic street foods and likely one of the first things you’d find yourself eating in that country. These ain’t no Eggos.
His enthusiasm for food had Fink referencing terms like “speculoos” and “mascarpone” that the plain eater I am quickly found myself asking him to repeat. The Waffle Factory’s menu includes an Original Liege Belgian Waffle dusted with powdered sugar, a Lief Waffle with melted Nutella, and an Amai Waffle with molten dark Belgian chocolate and strawberries, among other treats neatly served on pie discs.
One thing I learned is that there will not be an endless supply of daily waffles, which typically will be prepped at an offsite commissary. “They’re made that day, like a brioche,” Fink says.
It takes several hours for the dough to do its thing and the product to come together, with special care not to let the yeast devour the pearl sugar. Yeah, it’s like that. Once the day’s batch of waffles is gone, it’s gone.
Waffles cost between $6 and $9, depending on the style and toppings you order. Fink emphasizes that the toppings are high end, including fresh berries and homemade whipped cream (not to be confused with Crazy Foam, another Fink venture). Special offerings will include air-fried chicken and waffles on Pluckin’ Fridays. Fink’s team is attempting to offer gluten-free versions, but it’s tricky.
Expect to see the waffle truck in front of the police station and near Hunnewell field, and maybe even the Recycling & Disposal Facility’s book swap area. You’ll also be able to track its whereabouts via social media, or follow your nose. “You can smell the waffles hundreds of feet away,” Fink claims.
The truck has been serving waffles at various functions for a few months, and he expects catering and parties will make up the bulk of this business.
A big part of the waffle truck plan is to support fundraising events at town, with matching donations for sales of certain products, such as coffee, chai and tea. “This will be a community-centric thing,” he says.
A recent customer at an event outside of Wellesley turned out to be from Liege and told Fink he “wanted to see how good you are.” The Wellesley maker says his product passed the test, and that he’s confident the treats will do the same in town.
Current Board of Selectmen member and past Natural Resources Commission member Lise Olney proposed this week that Wellesley resolve to address the “climate emergency” facing the town (and beyond). It’s a chance for the Board of Selectmen and town government to make a bold leadership move, she says.
Acknowledging that the proposal is coming rather late in the process to fill out the warrant to be discussed at Town Meeting in the Spring, Olney said she “felt compelled to offer it for your consideration because of a mounting sense of urgency I’m hearing and I’m certainly feeling myself” in light of one dire report after another about the environment being released.
She emphasized that the resolution would not be a commentary on the many positive efforts taken by and in the town to address greenhouse gas emissions reduction.
“This language of ‘climate emergency’ I think is really helpful because it accurately describes the situation that we’re facing,” Olney says. “It offers Town Meeting an opportunity to take collective responsibility for making a focused statement on what kind of action we think is necessary to address this emergency.” It doesn’t obligate the town to take any specific actions, however, she adds.
Olney says she was inspired to word the resolution as she did because the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts has called upon communities to make declarations of climate emergency, and Amherst and Worcester have already done so. (Wellesley Township in Ontario has also declared it is facing a climate emergency, by the way.)
Dozens of medical associations have also urged such actions, Olney says. What’s more, residents have spoken up, including those who attended a climate rally at Town Hall in September. Olney argues that the term “climate emergency” is not controversial, and has been used by the United Nations, European Union and others.
More than half a dozen Wellesley residents spoke on the subject, including a couple of middle school students, one of whom urged action “before getting to a point of no return.”
Scott Bender, who has served on Wellesley’s Sustainable Energy Committee and supports putting a climate emergency or urgency article on the warrant, says many residents and businesses in town aren’t aware that Wellesley already has a greenhouse gas reduction goal “and that our progress has been stuck for about 5 years.” He asked: “When does it become a priority?”
The Board of Selectmen agreed that putting an article on the warrant is a good idea, but still needs to sort out the right language. BoS member Beth Sullivan Woods would like to see a certain level of “concreteness” in the wording, so that the community is clear on what actions need to be taken. She suggested, for example, that building content into the school curriculum could have big payoffs down the road since “children drive behavioral change.”
Update: A few days after the BoS meeting, the Natural Resources Commission approved a motion on declaring a Climate Emergency independent of the Selectmen.
Wellesley Police Department Detective Chris Connelly (CConnelly@wellesleyma.gov) is investigating 2 daytime home break-ins that took place on Weston Road near the Hardy Elemetary School on Dec. 18.
In both cases, entry was forced into the home and items were removed. Anyone who saw anything suspicious, or who may have home security video from 9AM-4:30PM, is asked to call the WPD at (781) 235-1212.
More: Wellesley Police logs