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Chamber of Commerce Events

The Marblehead Chamber of Commerce has all sorts of great activities for June. It’s worth getting involved and enjoying some of these programs. For more information, visit marbleheadchamber.org.

Saturday, June 14th: Town-Wide Sidewalk Sales

Join in the fun when Marblehead’s boutiques and eateries offer sales discounts and fun for everyone around. Participating stores include:  All Chic Boutique, Arnould Gallery, Bus Stop, C’Est La Vie, Chet’s Video & Candy Shoppe, Eos Designs Studio, Grace Oliver, home love, Liz Steinfeld Lingerie, Mahri, Marblehead Toy Shop, Marblehead Museum & Historical Society, Minus 10 Aesthetic Spa, Mud Puddle Toys, Pawsitively Marblehead, Pint Size and Up, Seaside Allure, Shubie’s, Spirit of ’76 Bookstore, Sweetwater Trading Company, Tory’s.

Saturday June 14th: Book Launch Party

Get to 66 Washington Street for the Book Launch Party for Monique Ilona’s book “A Dual Path: Sacred Practices and Bodywork,” and for the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Dual Path Institute.

June 19th: Multi-Chamber After Hours

Enjoy free food at Aikia Steakhouse at 443 Paradise Road as you join the Chamber for networking with the Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce and the Salem Chamber of Commerce

June 24th: Marketing and Social Media

Get in the know as the National Grand Bank sponsors an event called “Marketing and Social Media — From Beginner to Expert” with guest speaker Rafe Hershfield.

Summer Drama Programs

SummerDramaWorkshop2014_ShowPoster_webIf your child enjoys the dramatic arts, it’s time to look at the River’s Edge Arts Alliance. They are now accepting registration for the Summer Drama Workshop. This workshop will include four theater workshops that are for students entering first grade up until recent high school graduates.

Each workshop will have a culminating project of a performance at Hudson High School. Classes start on June 24 with a final performance on July 26th.

Check out the possibilities here and get started with your summer plans.

 

Free Workshop to Get to the Root of ADD and ADHD

Don’t miss out tomorrow when the Foundation for Wellness Professionals and Dr. Jolene Ross offer a free workshop called “Get to the Root of ADD-ADHD and Executive Function.”  It will be held at 7pm on Wednesday, June 4 at the Abbot Public Library at 245 Pleasant Street in Marblehead.

Ross will present a workshop about executive functioning skills and how to enhance them. These skills include  organization, planning, initiation, emotional control, completing tasks, transitions, working memory and other high-order brain functions.

Ross, a neurobehavioral psychologist, if offering this free session where you’ll see before and after brain images of children with “remarkable results” from her assistance.

Look at RetrainYourBrain.com to get more information.

 

Marblehead High School Art Exhibit

If you love art and want to enjoy a great show, the Marblehead High School’s Senior Art Show is worth a look. Dubbed “Secret Garden” the show opened on Wednesday night, May 14 inside the Abbot Public Library’s Virginia A. Carten Gallery.

The Library’s director, Patti Rogers, and art teacher Pascale Queval have come together for the sixth time to put on the annual show. As Rogers said,

“It’s a win-win opportunity. The students’ achievements and what the faculty brings out in the them gets to be seen by a much larger number of people when the exhibit is in this venue. It also draws people into the library.”

The show will be on display until May 28 and showcases a large array of mixed media.

The many exhibits on display highlight the work that the students have been doing over the years and the growth that they have achieved artistically.

Magic Hat Thrift Shop Gives Half a Million Dollars to Schools

magic hatEvery year, the Magic Hat Thrift Shop designates fund, based on their volunteer hours, to fund classroom programs for education at the Marblehead Public Schools. This spring, they are thrilled to announce that they are giving $50,000 in funding, their largest allocation to date, and that the total amount they’ve distributed to the six Marblehead public schools since they opened in 2006 is almost half a million dollars.

As Magic Hat board President Wendy Roworth said, “We are thrilled to be nearing the half-million-dollar mark in allocations to the Marblehead Public Schools and thank the community donors, volunteers and our customers for fueling our success! We look forward to a wonderful spring and summer shopping season as the Farmers Market reopens on Saturday, May 31.”

As Tara Kellner, the longtime volunteer PTO representative for the Bell School said, “The Magic Hat Thrift Shop gives parents a chance to contribute directly to their school but also creates an opportunity for parents of different schools to work side by side at the shop in support of the school community as a whole. We all benefit from the funds raised as the educational programs funded create a spiral effect of student enrichment across the schools and grades.”

Read the whole story here to see the amazing work that the Magic Hat Thrift Shop has done.

La Chic Mentoring Plus Fundraiser

La Chic Mentoring PlusLa Chic Mentoring Plus Inc. will soon host its third annual fundraiser from 5-9 pm on Saturday, June 7th at the Lynn Museum and Historical Society in Lynn. The evening is expected to include cocktails, food, music, a fashion show with eco-friendly clothing, a silent auction and a 50-50 raffle. In attendance will be former Red Sox players Billy Conigliaro and Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd, Miss Teen Massachusetts USA 2013 Madyson Milordi and Laurie Faria Stolarz, the author of a number of popular young-adult novels.

100% of the proceeds will benefit the La Chic Mentoring Plus program. Founded in 2012 by Keisha Conigliaro, the program helps underprivileged and at-risk girls to have a safe location to interact with other girls under the guidance of caring adults. With the space to enjoy educational activities, La Chic Mentoring Plus hopes to offer the girls strength, self-confidence and self-esteem.

Increased Education Budget for 2015

During the fiscal year 2015, the Chapter 70 education funding from the state and the general local aid will increase for Marblehead. The House’s 2015 budget plan calls for $5.38 million in Chapter 70 education funding for Marblehead which is an increase of $110,000 over the budget in 2014.

As state Rep. Lori Ehrlich said, “There is no higher priority for me as a legislator than working to ensure schools in my district get the funding they need. I’m pleased with the progress we have made in recent years toward our goal of properly funding our schools.”

In addition, Ehrlich filed an amendment to the budget to perform a review of the state’s funding formula for education. As Ehrlich explained, “When the state passed the Education Reform Act of 1993, the bill called for a thorough, systematic review of how the foundation budget was calculated at least once every four years. Unfortunately, this review has only been completed twice since then, most recently in 2001. The needs of our schools have changed dramatically in the 21 years since education reform was passed, with the adoption of new curriculum frameworks, increased need for special education and changes in technology in the classroom. This study will examine our funding formula to ensure we are spending our education dollars wisely.”

As State Rep. Alice Peisch, House chairman of the Joint Committee on Education, said, “I am grateful that the House adopted this important amendment, which will ensure a systematic and comprehensive reevaluation of the foundation budget. Such review will provide a critical opportunity to gain insight on whether the current formula meets the needs of all students throughout the Commonwealth and will help us to identify ways to ensure the most effective and efficient use of resources.”

The Commission has a deadline to present their findings in a report on or before June 30, 2015.

Cooking with Fire the Old Fashioned Way

booksPerhaps this won’t be your go-to cookbook, but it sure would be a fun one to have. Plymouth food historian and archaeologist Paula Marcoux has created a cookbook called “Cooking with Fire” that shows the many possible ways you can cook with a flame.

As she said, “I’d like people to take a step back and see how much fun it can be cooking with wood and how much better the food tastes,” said Marcoux of Plymouth, .

While it’s a cookbook, it’s also a glimpse into history, as Marcoux offers ways to prepare a vast range of foods using historic techniques and materials. As she explains, “Cooking with wood will interest people with a little sense of adventure, an open mind and a willingness to take the time to enjoy what they’re doing.”

Editor of the magazine Edible South Shore, she subtitled this book “From Roasting on a Spit to Baking in a Tannur, Rediscovered Techniques and Recipes that Capture the Flavors of Wood-Fired Cooking.” The book includes 100 recipes and many gorgeous color photos.

As Marcoux, 53, explains, “There’s nobody who will do every crazy thing in this book, but I’m hoping there is something in the book to engage everybody.”

If this book doesn’t catch your eye, you can wait for the book that she is writing for the Plymouth Antiquarian Society about 19th century cooking.

Marblehead Legend Donald Humphreys Dies

Donald Humphreys

Marblehead legend and contributor Donald Humphreys just recently passed away at the age of 91. In 2012, he put on a memorable celebration of the centennial of Marine Corps Aviation. He helped to rehabilitate the Hammond Park on Commercial Street to honor Starling Burgess and he helped to make Marblehead as the official birthplace of Marines in aviation.

Upon his death, fellow Marine and friend Don Macaulay said, “‘Semper Fidelis’ is the motto of the Marines. It means ‘forever faithful,’ and Don Humphreys defined it. And it guided his life beyond the Marine Corps and into his friendships and his loved ones and organizations he had sworn to.”

Signing up for the Marine Corps on December 8, 1941, he went to the South Pacific theater where he spent six months on Gaudalcanal in the Solomon Islands before going to other tactical assignments. He rose to the level of master sergeant and then returned to Marblehead and married Ruth Treat.

After the war, he become a mechanic and pilot. While he was best known as a Marine, he was also a businessman and inventor with several patents under his belt.
He founded his own company, Custom Radius Corporation, which was a designer, manufacturer and distributor of ice-skate-care equipment.

In his later years, he spent a great deal of time doing things for Marblehead and the Marine Corp. As Grader said, “The truth of the matter is, it was because of Don’s efforts that the Marine Corps designated Marblehead as the ‘Birthplace of Marine Corps Aviation. We all knew that Cunningham was the first Marine pilot to get his wings, but none of us knew it was in Marblehead where he soloed until Humphreys’ research.”

He was honored with the Marblehead Chamber of Commerce’s Rey Moulton Person of the Year in 2012 for his execution of the centennial celebration.

After his wife died of cancer, Humphreys met Lili Rowen, with whom he had a wonderful relationship. Asked to comment on his character, Rowen said, “He was a Marine — that is all you have to publish.”

Seaside Allure Wine-and-Cheese

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Spring has arrived and it’s time to enjoy some lovely new clothing for the season. One great shop in Marblehead is Seaside Allure, the women’s boutique in old town that features brands like Lilly Pulitzer, Jude Connally, Yala and Johnny Was. They incorporate an ocean feel into their elegant clothing lines.

Now, they are having a trunk show featuring Mahi Gold from noon to 8 pm on Thursday, May 1. Located at 9 Pleasant Street, they welcome visitors to drop by and enjoy a wine-and-cheese party. As part of the party, they will welcome their new neighbor, home love, that is at 7 Pleasant Street.

Home love is a unique home décor and gift shop which is offering quality items at low prices.

Come by on May 1 to enjoy Seaside Allure’s beautiful clothing and an introduction to home love.