The 16th Annual Marion Village 5K kicks  Saturday morning, June 23, at 9:00 am.  Even though the race is tomorrow, there’s still plenty of time to register! Sign up online at www.marionrecreation.com or at www.jbrace.com.

Prize money is offered to the top three men and women finishers and merchandise or gift certificates are awarded to the top ten men and women in the race. Gift certificates are awarded to the top male and female finishers from Marion.

Young runners in the 13 and under age group will receive certificates for free ice creams from Kool Kone. There is also a post race raffle open to all competitors.

The racecourse starts in front of Baxter House on Front Street, heads north on Front Street, then left on Ryder Lane and left again on Spring Street. At the end of Spring Street, the course takes a left, then a quick right on Pleasant Street.

After climbing slightly for a quarter mile, the course takes a left and drops downhill on Holmes Street and continues through the two-mile mark turning left on Water Street. Then left again on Vine and right back onto Front Street for the final half mile ending in the driveway of Tabor’s Hoyt Hall on the waterfront.

Standing up in front of a crowd of people trying to make them laugh is no easy feat. But for Marion native and ORR graduate Mike Mulloy, it’s something he loves to do. The 26-year-old has taken his stand-up comedy show to some of the larger venues in Boston.

“My favorite part is definitely just the rush that you get from being in front of a crowd,” said Mulloy. “There’s really not many feelings like it in the world.”

It all started as a New Year’s resolution in 2011. Mulloy, who had tried stand up a couple of times while attending college at Bridgewater State University, wanted to give it another try.

“I always regretted not pursuing it, so one day I was just like, ‘screw it, I’m doing it,” he said.

While Mulloy grew up watching the acts of famous comedians such as Louis C.K, Norm McDonald and Chris Rock, he had no formal training in comedy or theatre. During his time at ORR, he was a member of the football team, but never did anything with performing arts.

“In retrospect, I probably should have considering I had always had that itch to be doing stand up,” he said.

After college, Mulloy made the move to Boston.  During the day, he works in sales for an online news company- a job that helps balance the comedy lifestyle.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

            “If I wasn’t doing something during the day, I would lose my mind,” Mulloy said. “I like working.   love comedy, but I don’t think I could lead the comedian lifestyle.”

Mulloy also said working in both comedy and sales helps on both ends of the spectrum.  Whether he’s trying to read a crowd or reading a potential client, the two are very similar.

Still, Mulloy finds himself performing at least once a week at clubs in and around Boston. Thursdays he can be found performing at Nick’s Comedy Stop located in the Theatre District on Warrenton Street.  But he says he doesn’t get nervous, even in front of large crowds.

“I get super anxious before being on stage, but not nervous. There’s a huge difference,” he said.  “Nervous would imply that I’m afraid to be up there.  I want to be up there so badly during that time before that I just want to fast forward to when I’m on stage.”

His material covers a wide variety of topics such as sports, television, pop culture, movies, his family and much more. Even with a broad repertoire, coming up with fresh content can be somewhat difficult.

“A lot of my jokes are very time sensitive so I have to toss a lot of it after a few weeks,” he said. “I might need to start focusing on more evergreen content.”

For more information on Mike Mulloy and his performances, visit www.twitter.com/mike_mulloy or www.facebook.com/mikemulloycomedy.

Imagine being separated from your son or daughter for one week, sending them off into the wilderness with no form of communication. Time passing by slowly as you wait for their return. Fortunately for the hundreds of parents of the ORRJHS students participating in the annual Survival program, that wait came to an end on Saturday, June 16 when the children were returned safely to the school.

“It’s been difficult, but it’s good for him to be away,” said Sue Seguin, whose 13-year-old son Pat Cummings participated in the trip. “He’s being independent and he’s with his friends. He’s probably had a great time.”

The students departed their families on June 9 and made their way to an undisclosed location in western Massachusetts near the Berkshires. Spending every moment outdoors hiking, parents grew nervous given the unseasonably chilly and rainy June the area has experienced thus far.

“It’s been nerve-wracking,” said Joanne Larock, mother of 13-year-old Survival participant Diana.  “I thought of her often, especially with the rain. I thought of her being out in the elements at night when we were cold and would shut our windows and the fact that she was out there with no windows to shut.”

The parents anxiously awaited as hundreds of backpacks were dropped off prior to the students’ arrival. They waited in the exact area in which they dropped off their children and gave them last minute advice prior to boarding the bus.

“I told him to be positive, be a good leader, try to help other kids if they need help and remember to try and stay cheerful,” said Seguin.

“I told her that it’s going to be really hard, but remember that scores of people have done this before you and you can do it,” said Larock. “I told her to find her inner strength, feel her muscles and that she could do it.”

Despite the anxiety of being separated from their children, the parents knew the valuable lessons that this trip had in store for the students.

“We have to let them see what they’re capable of,” said Larock. “Although it’s difficult, you can push through anything. Before they get into more challenging years academically in the high school, to have this within themselves is a huge life lesson.”

Shortly after 3:00 pm and led by a police escort, two busloads of chanting and cheering students pulled into a parking lot filled with hundreds of families and friends clad with signs and bubbles to greet their survivors. 13-year-old Morgan Bliss got off the bus and ran to her mother and gave her a huge hug.

“I was so homesick when I was there,” said Bliss. “To see my family is so great, thank god I’m home. I did not like being away from home.”

In addition to seeing her family, there was something else Bliss was looking forward to as well.

“I’m looking forward to food,” she said. “I’ve been craving pancakes all week.”

Although Bliss felt homesick, she walked away from the trip with a very valuable lesson.

“I learned not to take anything for granted, like my family and my house,” she said.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

Crew is a sport that is often times characterized as exclusive – a sport only available to the wealthy or to students who attend private schools. But there’s a new group based in Fairhaven that is allowing rowers alike, no matter age nor skill, to hit the water and give the sport a chance. The Phoenix Crew Club is opening its doors to the public and encouraging everyone to come check it out.

“We’re a newly formed club,” said Head Coach Carolyn McGonagle. “I was Head Coach of New Bedford Community Rowing for two years but they made some changes and pushed us out of there. My loyalty is with the kids, so we wanted to find some boats and a location to launch from so we could continue to do programming and get the kids out on the water.”

Phoenix Crew originally launched in Mattapoisett Harbor when the club first originated earlier in the spring before moving to their current location at 30 Beach St. in Fairhaven. However, the club accepts memberships from all neighboring towns. Current rowers fail from Westport, Dartmouth, Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester.

McGonagle’s rowing career began at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. After graduating in 1998, she coached in Boston, Savannah, Georgia and San Francisco before landing on the SouthCoast in New Bedford. With her nearly 20 years of experience in the sport, she knows the benefits the sports holds for students.

“It teaches them teamwork and also individual responsibility,” said McGonagle.  You always want to be the fastest guy in the boat, but it doesn’t matter in the boat, if you can’t work with other people, you’ll slow the boat down.”

While crew is a sport that occurs on water, it’s work done inside the classroom that McGonagle also hopes to focus on at Phoenix Crew.

“Crew is a very good way to get into college, particularly for girls,” she said.  “Because it’s such a niche sport, if a kid learns how to row in high school and they go to college, they’ll automatically make the team and be a collegiate athlete. For the kids that want to work hard, we’ll talk about colleges, being a recruited athlete vs. a non-recruited athlete, SAT scores, and we’ll get the kids thinking about getting into college ahead of time.”

Heading into the summer, there are currently 17 student rowers enrolled at Phoenix Rowing. The program is also open to adults who are looking for a good, low-impact workout.

“I’ve seen people in their 80’s rowing,” said McGonagle. “It’s low-impact. I’ve seen people with hip, back, knee and ankle injuries do it.  It’s a great way to get a really hard work out and protect your body. It’s definitely a sport to do for life.”

For the rowers who are serious about racing, practice will be held on the Acushnet River at 5:30 am. For those looking for a more casual approach, beginners classes will be held in the evenings. As the club’s membership grows, McGonagle hopes to field both adult and student programs, as well as separate the boys and the girls into varsity and novice squads. For now, they are practicing together as a co-ed unit.

McGonagle hopes that the reputation of Crew being a wealthy sport will not scare away those interested in pursuing it. She said there are scholarships available for those who cannot afford it.

“We never turn anyone away,” she said. “If they can’t pay anything, they don’t.”

In addition to getting more members, Phoenix Crew is also focused on fundraising and securing official 501(c) (3) non-profit status. Once funding is secured, McGonagle hopes to open an indoor facility with training and classrooms available to emphasize both the importance of athleticism and academics.

For more information on Phoenix Crew, log on to phoenixcrewclub.webs.com, find them on Facebook by searching “Phoenix Crew Club,” e-mail Carolyn McGonagle at crazyrower@yahoo.com or info.phoenixcrew@gmail.com, or simply stop by their location on Beach Street in Fairhaven to check it out in person.

“We encourage everyone to come and take a look,” said McGonagle.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

A well-groomed garden with lawns and non- native plants is no magnet for butterflies, or other insects and birds that share our local ecosystem. If you want your garden to bustle with life, use native plants and a wide array of colorful nectar producing flowers.

At a special Sippican Lands Trust presentation on Tuesday June 19, Horticulturist Debi Hogan shared this advice and explained how conscientious gardening can enrich biodiversity – which means the number, variety and genetic variation of organisms found within a specific geographic region.

“We know that plants make the world go round,” she said of their importance in supporting and maintaining insects, birds and other animals. With 37 percent of the animal world represented by insects, their livelihood relies on plants as food – and birds rely on insects as critical nourishment.

From the rise in suburbanization came manicured lawns and a taste for non-native plants, which 90 percent of insects do not consume. Insects adapt to chemicals in plants after co-evolving with a plant over a long history, underscoring the importance of gardening with native plants, she said.

Hogan’s husband, Warren Leach, noted during the talk that lawns take up double the land than national parks. Mowed lawns are not good incubators for life, he said.

“If we can change our own practices, we can change our landscape,” Hogan said.

To create a garden attracting butterflies, a variety of plants should adorn a yard. Fragrant yellow, purpose, and white flowers will attract butterflies, which often rely on smell to locate nectar. Also many plants should be available for choosy female butterflies to lay their eggs. Trees also are important harboring grounds for these

insects. “A lot of butterflies actually grow up in trees,” Hogan said. She also advised that a water source be available to nourish the insects and birds.

Hogan listed off many plants that attract butterflies: butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa) for monarch butterflies and red clover (asclepias tuberosa) for monarch butterflies, hummingbirds and clearwing moths.

Other plants she recommended to attract the winged beauties include: dandelions, purple cane flower, black eyed susan, daisy fleabone, sunflower, Mexican sunflower, hawkweed, yarrow, butterfly bush, ironweed, New Jersey tea, honeysuckle, violets, among others. She also recommended laying out ripe fruit.

“I’m trying to encourage a change in practices… gardening with a little less lawn,” she said.

 By Laura Fedak Pedulli