Author: Ray Bernoff
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ACAC Artist-in-Residence Plarn Art Project
The soft rustle of plastic newspaper bags fills the basement of the Fox Library. A half-dozen people are sorting them into piles by color. This is the Plarning Brigade, a group of volunteers participating in Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture’s (ACAC) artist-in-residence Michelle Lougee‘s collaborative project. Lougee, a sculptor and fiber artist who works…
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Harvest Moon Fair
The First Parish Unitarian Universalist church has been an establishment in Arlington for nearly 300 years. And its parishioners have been hosting the annual, autumnal Harvest Moon Fair for at least a century and a half. Little information is readily available about the fair’s early history, but the fair today has a format familiar to…
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Arlington Open Studios
2019 marked Arlington Center for the Arts’ 20th annual Open Studios event. Open Studios is a showcase for local artists and craftspeople, many of whom live or work in Arlington, to display and sell their creations. This Open Studios is one of many — community arts organizations in nearby towns, like Somerville, Lexington, and Cambridge,…
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Everything is Free and Zero Waste Arlington
On a crisp, sunny day in early November, Arlingtonians gathered in Thompson Elementary School in East Arlington. Some walked in empty-handed or toting shopping bags, while others brought in broken bicycles, torn clothing, or dysfunctional toasters. Everyone was there for a joint event put on by Zero Waste Arlington (ZWA) and Sustainable Arlington in conjunction…
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Arlington Reservoir Water Tower
The water tower is an architectural and historical landmark for Arlington. It’s been in the National Register of Historic Places since 1985. Plaques on the tower detail its history.
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Arlington Town Day
September 14th was Arlington’s 2019 Town Day. That’s 43 annual Town Days since 1976, put on by the town to showcase everything Arlington has to offer.
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Arlington Astronomy Nights
“There’s really nothing better than the exclamations I hear and expressions I see on peoples’ faces the first time they look through the telescope,” he says. “Sharing the passion that I have for observing the night sky, even if just for a moment at a time, makes it worth doing year after year.”
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Arlington Reservoir
Arlington’s second-largest body of water, the Arlington Reservoir, is a little different from the others. It was made by people instead of dug out by glaciers. According to the Arlington Reservoir Committee website, Arlington created it in 1871 by damming Munroe Brook. Arlington used the reservoir for drinking water until it joined Massachusetts Water Resources…
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Spy Pond
On Pond Road off Mass Ave, past a narrow bridge which allows the Minuteman Bikeway to pass overhead, a corrugated concrete boat ramp opens out onto the 103-acre body of water known as Spy Pond.
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Menotomy Indian Hunter
At the center of the garden between Town Hall and the Robbins Library, on a crest above a long, shallow reflecting pool, kneels a statue of a Native American man. He’s equipped for a hunt. His catch for the day, a goose, rests by his foot. The 1911 statue is by Cyrus Edwin Dallin, a…
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Fido Fest
A warm summer night on Spy Pond Field. A pink sunset. Popcorn. Bubbles. Lots and lots of dogs. And lots and lots of dog videos on the big screen. It can only be Fido Fest.
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Independence Day at Robbins Farm Park
On a clear night, most of the city of Boston is visible from the hill. Locals call it Skyline Park. And Skyline offers a surprising view of anything happening above Boston and Cambridge, from a pink sunrise to a fireworks show.
Icons of Arlington 