We did the rounds—along with seemingly everyone else within miles—at Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend attractions on Saturday and the events didn’t disappoint.

If you were looking to climb on vehicles from the scariest looking Department of Public Works and Municipal Light Plant trucks to the loudest fire vehicles and wettest fire hose games, you came to the right places if you hit those open houses.

I overheard one mom, if I interpreted correctly, advising her kid to go into the fire engine manufacturing business after hearing about how much they go for.

DPW Director Dave Cohen termed the DPW open house “a blowout” success.

If you were looking for a little exercise, members of the military were more than happy to run you through their family boot camp, maybe giving you a break on the amount of weight that they typically lug.

And if you were looking for some afternoon sustenance, the Wellesley Police Department had you covered with their usual hot dogs and fixings spread. Oh, and lots of great swag, from stickers to police trading cards. I actually did hear about a crime on my rounds at Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend: A Swellesley reader told me he couldn’t figure out how to donate to support our work (here’s how).

When we saw fire vehicles show up at the police station we figured maybe the officers had turned up the heat too high on the dogs. It turned out to be a routine fire box issue—though suspiciously convenient for firefighters at lunchtime.

Meanwhile, over at the Royal Irish Artillery encampment next door at Morton Park the re-enactors were wrestling with a beast of a turkey on a spit. In hindsight, that might have been a healthier lunch choice if they were sharing.

Others filled up at earlier at the annual pancake festival at the high school, where teens were doing a heck of a job serving up pancakes, waffles, and more. When I asked one family how they heard about the event, they gave the right answer: “The Swellesley Report.”

The show went on Sunday in Wellesley despite clouds and some drizzle. The Wellesley Celebrations Committee outdid itself with the 56th Annual Wellesley Veterans Parade Sunday, followed by the picnic/concerts/fair at Hunnewell Field and the fireworks.

The parade’s theme was “200th Anniversary of Modern Battlefield Medicine Advancements.”

The winning floats in the parade were:

• Best School Float Trophy–Fiske School
• Judge’s Award–Wellesley Village Church
• Best Theme Related float–St. John’s School
• Best Organizational Float–Wellesley Theatre Project
• Chairman’s Award–Wellesley Robotics
• Most Patriotic Float–Boy Scout Troop #185

Wellesley Media caught the parade action on video so that you can relive it, or watch it for the first time if you missed the big Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend event.

More: Saturday scene at Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend 2024

With Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend, you could really make a day of it on Saturday, and many did.

Some early risers hit the trails at 9am for a guided walk with the Wellesley Trails Committee in the Guernsey Sanctuary and to the Waban Arches.

Other early birds followed the trail at Wellesley High School from the kitchen to the cafeteria, where they munched on pancakes, waffles, and more courtesy of the Kiwanis Club, Key Club, and other volunteers.

When I stopped by the kitchen was doing a brisk business, though the report from the gluten-free station was that things were a little slow there. I did some table hopping and customers seemed satisfied, with many making trips back to the kitchen for seconds and maybe more. Select Board member Beth Sullivan Woods said there was even an inquiry for the waffle recipe.

I got caught up in some good conversation about the Wellesley recycling center, including one classic tale of finding a hard-to-open safe there that the finder never did get open (though he handed it off to a colleague who may or may not have—he promised not to disclose what the contents were to my narrator). Another diner shared his thoughts on the challenges for builders of adhering to the energy codes adopted by the town in recent years. And another breakfast patron gladly posed for a family photo, joking that “My kids always get in Swellesley, but I never do!”

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By the time I left the pancakes and visited the Touch-A-Truck event at the Department of Public Works, the huge crowd I’d heard about from my breakfast sources had thinned out. “I hear there were a thousand people there waiting for them to open at 9,” one event organizer told me at the [Read more…]