Black Friday is just days away and Marblehead is gearing up. Local business owners will be turning their lights on in their stores at sunrise, or before. Certainly, those on Atlantic Avenue, Pleasant Street and the Historic District are hoping that people stay local and shop with them. As Kristen Pollard, owner of Pleasant Street’s Mud Puddle Toy said, “It is absolutely the biggest organized Black Friday we’ve ever had.”

The Marblehead Merchants Group has worked very hard to entice people to spend their money locally rather than at larger chains or online. About three years ago, the merchants group decided that they should share their resources and serve as an advocacy group for the area.

The group put out feelers to see which merchants plan to offer deals on Black Friday and which ones plan to open early.

As Dawn LiVigne of Atlantic Avenue’s EOS Designs Studio said, “The response was overwhelmingly successful.” They had a flyer printed and over 21 businesses are participating in the Black Friday event and flyer. The earliest stores will open at 6:30am and many will offer discounts ranging from 20% off to 50% off store-wide or selected merchandise.

Marblehead’s representative, Sixth District Congressman Seth Moulton, invited residents of the district to a Veterans Day Town Hall in Marblehead on November 11th. Sebastian Junger, a noted writer and director, was in attendance. As Moulton explained,

“This event is a community forum aiming to establish a greater understanding between local veterans and the friends and neighbors they fought for. In the tradition of warrior storytelling, veterans are invited to describe the pride, grief, rage, or quiet appreciation of life that the war bestowed upon them. Each veteran will be given up to 10 minutes to speak about what his or her service means to them through a story, summary of service, message, letter home, excerpt from a war journal, or even the story behind a photograph. Non-veterans are invited to listen and to learn.”

Mouton added,

“This event will help our community bridge the divide between veterans and non-veterans and inform how I can better serve you in Congress.”

If you love local artistic talent, then check out The Cloister Gallery at St. Andrew’s Church. From November 8th through January 14th, they will feature an exhibition of artwork by local artists Judy Beals, Janet Juel Cook and Patricia Dunbar. The gallery will be open from 9-4 Monday through Thursday and from 9-12 on Fridays. It is also open from 8:30-11:30 on Saturdays and 8-12 on Sundays. The gallery is handicapped accessible and more information can be found here: http://standrewsmhd.org/cloistergallery.html

Enjoy a great night out November 6th and 7th, Friday and Saturday from 10-5. All of the products will be less than 75% of the retail price. This includes $5 jewelry, expandable charm bracelets, scarves for $25 and more. It will take place at the Masonic Lodge, 62 Pleasant Street in Marblehead.

Here is the website to check out what they have: http://www.bakedbeads.com/about/clearance-sales

Ribcraft, a Marblehead boat builder, is expanding its line. They are launching their first new model in two years, the Express 32. They have been building boats in Marblehead for 14 years with a focus on rigid inflatable boats. The Express 32 debuted at the Newport Boat Show from September 15-18 and is their first standard model cabin boat. As Ribcraft’s president and owner, Brian Gray, said “The 32 has been in the works for quite a while, as there has been demand from existing customers and new prospects for a boat that can be used year-round or in all different weather conditions.”

The Express 32 is 32 feet long and with a cabin that can be heated or air-conditioned as needed.

on Saturday, October 17th you just might want to gather the kids together and enjoy the open house at the Marblehead Fire Department. They will be open for their annual open house from 10am to 2pm and everyone is invited to tour the apparatus floor and climb on the engines.

There will be a smoke house, a squire house, and a demonstration of how they use the Jaws of Life. The ladder truck will roll out its 100 foot rescue ladder as well. Certainly, officers will be on hand to answer questions and to participate in the demonstrations.

The event is open to all and free of charge. It will take place at One Ocean Avenue.

On September 29th, the Marblehead Festival of Arts had its Annual Meeting at St. Michael’s Church in Marblehead. Moderated by Eric Knight and Bill Smalley, they updated members on the finances and reviewed the 2015 Festival.

There were 45 corporate members in attendance and 20 elected ones. As described on the Wicked Local website,

“Pictures were shown of the many events that the Festival puts on during the ‘off season’ outside of the July 4th weekend. The Festival participated in the Chamber’s Holiday Walk, the Logo Premiere in January which revealed the winning 2015 logo, the Winter Film Festival held in February at the Abbot Library, the ArtsFusion Auction held in conjunction with the Marblehead Arts Association, a special talk by Pete Muller, a photojournalist stationed in Africa about his pictures of the Ebola Crisis, and the Film Retrospective of films from past Film Festivals.”

They announced the members who were elected as officers and directors for the 2016 Festival as well. These included: President: Bill Smalley, 1st Vice President: Maggie Smist, 2nd Vice President: Patricia Patrick, Treasurer: Kathy Hempel, Secretary: Maggie Raftus. Directors: Patricia Baker, Harry Foster, Matt Freedman, Ellen Garvey, Patricia Kane, Jo-Ann Murphy, Patrick Paquette and Ryan Siden.

The oldest peer-review publication for lawyers and all things legal has just come out with the US News Best Lawyers in America listing. They have ranked Marblehead resident Richard P. Breed II as among the best lawyers for 2016. Breed is a partner with Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers in Boston. He was named a Best Lawyer in Trust & Estates and this is the fifth year in a row that he has made the list.

The publication is regarded as one of the best and conducts exhaustive peer-review surveys. More than 41,000 attorneys cast their votes that equal 3.9 million votes on legal abilities of other lawyers.

Tonight, as part of the Beverly Seamans exhibit at the Marblehead Arts Association, the artist’s son John Seamans will present a talk about his mother’s work. The talk will take place tonight from 7-8:30pm in the Ballroom Gallery of the King Hooper Mansion on Hooper Street. Reservations are suggested and can be made at (781) 631-2608 or info@marbleheadarts.org.

The Seamans exhibition will run through September 27th.

Massachusetts parents can be happy with their educational choices according to the WalletHub research. They broke down the best and worst public school systems in the country. Massachusetts was ranked the top in the nation, second in school system quality and first in school safety.

They had 13 metrics with which they evaluated the schools. Massachusetts ranked highest in the country in reading and math scores. They were not in the top five for student-to-teacher ratio, SAT scores or lowest dropout rates, but they ranked very well overall.

WalletHub’s other top school choices included those in Colorado, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Kentucky. The worst states were Louisiana, Arizona, Nevada, District of Columbia and Alaska.