The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

Wellesley Square Holiday Stroll, December 5th, noon – 6pm

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SPONSORED POST: The Wellesley Square Merchants’ Association is getting ready for the always festive Holiday Stroll on Sunday, December 5, noon – 6pm, and you’re not going to want to miss a minute.

Wellesley Square Holiday Stroll schedule of events

1:00-5:30 More than 50 carolers will be strolling throughout Wellesley Square

1:30-4:30 Sleigh Rides from the Railroad Ave. Parking Lot (by Post Office Park)

1:00-5:30 Meet Frosty and Rudolph as they stroll throughout the Square

1:00-3:30 Pictures with Santa on Central Street

3:30-4:30 Sleigh Rides with Santa from the Railroad Ave. Parking Lot

5:00-5:30 Holiday Tree Lighting at the Wellesley Square Fire Station

5:00-5:30 Menorah Lighting at the Wellesley Square Fire Station

Wellesley Square Holiday Stroll
Carolers visit a Wellesley Square store. Holiday Stroll, 2019.

Hunt for big prizes

In addition to all of your favorite activities add to the fun by playing the Scavenger Hunt with your Smartphone. You’ll scan a QR code to play, and four winners will each come away with $675 in gift cards to Wellesley Square stores. All the details and the chance to register in advance are here: https://shopwellesleysquare.com/holiday-stroll-2019/

Wellesley Square Holiday Stroll
The Kim family of Wellesley celebrates their winnings after the 2019 Scavenger Hunt. John (Dad), Jenny (Mom), with E.J., Cailyn, and Keegan.

Get in the holiday spirit

There’s nothing like this great event throughout all of the greater Boston area. Frosty and Rudolf  will be there to greet everyone and pose for selfies. Santa will take a break from his work at the North Pole to hear holiday wishes and later on give rides in his sleigh. And the event will be capped off with a tree lighting at the fire station. Afterwards, why not keep the fun going with dinner at a nearby restaurant? There’s nothing like this great event throughout all of the greater Boston area.

Free parking has begun and runs through December. Just look for the covered meters. Complete parking info here.

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Wellesley back in the movies

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A movie crew has piled into Wellesley Square this week, reportedly filming part of the forthcoming Whitney Houston biopic “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.”

The action was centered around 75 Central St., near iCode.

Filming of “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” reportedly recently took place at Worcester Airport. The Mass Film site shows “IWD” as being in production.

The yellow signs posted in the area say “Anthem,” which makes sense. Her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at Super Bowl 25 in 1991 remains legendary.

Naomi Ackie will depict Houston in the film slated for its debut next year.

And no, this Bob Brown was not asked to play Bobby Brown, Houston’s ex.

iwd filmingiwd filming movie

Got more details? Let us know: [email protected]

Wellesley has been a movie hotspot in recent years, including for an HBO series about chef Julia Child.

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Wellesley arts news: Dana Hall hosts fiber art exhibit; Wellesley residents performing in TCAN’s Harvey; more electrical box art; From Art in the Park to art in storefronts

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Our round-up of the latest Wellesley MA arts & entertainment news:

Dana Hall School hosts fiber art exhibit

The Dana Hall Art Gallery presents Windows and Mirrors, running through Nov. 19. The show features the work of Boston-area textile artist Clara Nartey, a parent of a Dana Hall senior.

“This exhibition, Windows and Mirrors, is my way of telling the youth that I see them, and I hear them,” Nartey said, in a statement.

The gallery had been closed for a year and a half, but is now open to the public.

Located in the Classroom Building, the Dana Hall Art Gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Due to COVID-19 protocols, please email [email protected] before planning your visit. The gallery is closed weekends and school
holidays. The campus now welcomes visitors, just not in the dining hall.

Thanks to Wellesley’s Abby Glassenberg for sharing these photos from the opening:

Windows & Mirrors show at Dana Hall art gallery
Photos courtesy of Abby Glassenberg

 

Windows & Mirrors show at Dana Hall art gallery
Photo courtesy of Abby Glassenberg

 

Windows & Mirrors show at Dana Hall art gallery
Windows & Mirrors show artist Clara Nartey with fellow Craft Industry Alliance member Abby Glassenberg

 

Wellesley residents in TCAN’s “Harvey” production

It’s good to see live theater back in action, in person.

Wellesley’s Sylvia Czubarow and Cathy Merlo are among cast members for TCAN in Natick’s production of “Harvey” running Nov. 5-14.

Tickets are $22, $20 for TCAN members, and $17 for
seniors ($12 on Sundays) and may be purchased through the box office at 508-647-0097 or online at
www.natickarts.org.

Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play is the story of Elwood P. Dowd, an amiable but eccentric man
with a very strange best friend—a six-foot, three-and-one-half-inch invisible rabbit named Harvey.

TCAN is located at 14 Summer St., in Natick and the theatre is wheelchair accessible.

More electrical box art

Three more electrical boxes in Wellesley are being painted by local artists. Goldfish, hot air balloons, and a kid with binoculars are the themes this time around. Organizers discussed the works recently during a Select Board meeting (about the 7-minute mark of the Wellesley Media recording).

We caught high schooler Evelyn Harrison painting the box at Church Park in front of Village Church as the Boston Marathon whizzed by. This was very early on, so be sure to see the finished product.

You can learn about the painted electrical boxes and artists across town via an online map.

evelyn electrical box.

 

From Art in the Park to art in storefronts

The individual quilt sections made at the Art in the Park event during Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend have been stitched together and now are shown in otherwise empty store windows at the west end of Wellesley Square on Central Street.

art in the park quilt in wellesley square art in the park quilt in wellesley square

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Books news—in-person author readings are back; Wellesley resident comes out with seafood cookbook

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Wellesley BooksAfter a long break from in-person author visits due to the pandemic, Wellesley Books has moved to a hybrid system of bringing writers and readers together. As over the past year, some appearances will be virtual. But several authors will this fall be appearing in the flesh, either at the Wellesley Square store or in partnership with Morse Institute Library, just down the street in Natick.

Buy tickets and get more information here.

In-person author visits

Elizabeth Strout—Oh William! in conversation w/ Lily King

Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge, presents Oh William!, her latest novel to explore the life of her iconic heroine, Lucy Barton. Elizabeth will be in conversation with Lily King, author of Euphoria and Writers & Lovers.

This is a ticketed event. Your ticket includes a copy of Oh William!.

DATE: Oct. 27th
TIME: 7pm
LOCATION: Morse Institute Library in Natick

Jenna Blum—Woodrow on the Bench

Jenna Blum, author of Those Who Save Us, pays tribute to her beloved black Lab in her beautiful memoir, Woodrow on the Bench.

This is a ticketed event. Your admission ticket can be used as a coupon off a copy of Woodrow on the Bench. Books will be available for sale at the event.

DATE: Oct. 29th
TIME: 7pm
LOCATION: Wellesley Books

Dan Shaughnessy, sports columnist for The Boston Globe and author of The Curse of the Bambino, presents Wish It Lasted Forever, his intimate look at Larry Bird and the 1980s Celtics.

This is a ticketed event. Your $5 admission ticket can be put toward a copy of the book bought at the event.

DATE: Nov 15th
TIME: 7pm
LOCATION: Wellesley Books

Online author visit

Alexander McCall Smith, author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, presents his latest installment, The Joy and Light Bus Company. Alexander will be in conversation with Julia Spencer-Fleming, author of Hid From Our Eyes.

This is a ticketed event.

DATE: Nov 17th
TIME: noon
LOCATION: virtual

Chef Jeremy Sewall deep dives into 3rd seafood book

Wellesley chef Jeremy Sewall
Photo: Michael Harlan Turkell

Wellesley resident Chef Jeremy Sewall has just launched The Row 34 Cookbook: Stories and Recipes from a Neighborhood Oyster Bar, a 120-recipe cookbook that celebrates oyster-bar culture along with the people that help to bring the restaurant to life.

Chef Sewall shares recipes for Row 34 favorites, plus smoked and cured preparations; whole fish preparations; composed dishes; and essential sauces and sides. Throughout are practical “how-to” instructionals, an essential guide for preparing seafood, a helpful oyster primer, as well as profiles of experts from fishmongers and fishermen.

Recipe highlights include:

  • Grilled swordfish with horseradish butter and white beans (pictured)
  • Lettuce Cups with Crispy Oysters and Pickled Vegetables
  • Grilled Oysters with Lemon-Garlic Butter
  • Tuna Crudo with Ginger and Black Garlic Aïoli
  • Scallop Ceviche with Cilantro Pesto
  • Crispy Fish Tacos with Vegetable Slaw and Lime Crema
  • Mussels Steamed in White Wine and Garlic Broth
  • Grilled Salmon Collars with Cucumber Salad and Tzatziki Sauce
  • Bucatini with Littlenecks
  • Flounder with Anchovy Butter

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In case you missed it: Wellesley Theatre Project honors USO

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During Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend Part II, Wellesley Theatre Project treated the crowd pre-fireworks to a song & dance performance honoring the USO.  The theme for this year’s Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend was celebrating 80 years of the United Service Organizations.

The entertainment kicks off about 10 minutes into Wellesley Media’s recording:

 

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Wellesley Cotillion canceled for 2nd year in a row

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The Wellesley Cotillion Committee has announced on its Facebook page that it has canceled Cotillion 2022.

Wellesley Cotillion 2020
Cotillion 2020. Attendees started out at either WHS (pictured above) or locations in Boston, and were transported round-trip to the venue and back  at the end of the evening via  via luxury motor coach service.

 

In spring 2021 there were high hopes that the long-standing formal dance tradition would be held on January 8, 2022 at Lombardo’s in Randolph. But to the disappointment of all, the 80+-year old annual event will remain on hiatus.

Cotillion, a non-Wellesley Public School event put together entirely by over 150 parent volunteers, was last held in January 2020. At that time over 700 guests alternated between dancing the night away and watching the New England Patriots lose a playoff game  to the Tennessee Titans (final score, 20-13) on large-screen TVs set up for the purpose at the dance.

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Explore Cronk’s Rocky Woodland in Wellesley

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Cronk's Rocky Woodland, Wellesley, May 2017Gather round the outdoor fireplace at Cronk’s Rocky Woodland, enjoy a cup of hot cider, and help the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust celebrate the new fire screen on Sunday, Oct. 24, 4-5:30pm. The woodland preserve is also home to a charming Hansel and Gretel cottage, a marked nature trail, and a wildflower garden that Gertrude Cronk established in the 1930s for Wellesley to enjoy in perpetuity.

The Woodland is one of ten sanctuaries held in trust by the trust.

DATE: Sunday, Oct. 24
TIME: 4pm-5:30pm
LOCATION: Cronk’s Rocky Woodland (20 Crown Ridge Rd, Wellesley)

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