Rochester Memorial Day Boat Race

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The Rochester Memorial Day Boat Race on the Mattapoisett River, sponsored by the Rochester Fire Department, will take place on Memorial Day, May 27, starting at 8:30 am at Grandma Hartley’s Reservoir, Snipatuit Road, in Rochester and finishing at the Herring Weir, River Road at Route 6, in Mattapoisett. 

            The minimum age for contestants is seven years old on Memorial Day. There will be two persons to a boat. The boat must be a homemade river racer design of any material you choose. There are no limitations or restrictions on types of paddles. 

            Divisions include open/men’s, women’s, junior boys, junior girls, co-ed, and parent/child. Junior division teams are both contestants under 14 years old. Parent/child is for a parent with his/her child (child under 14 years old) or an adult (25 or older) with a child (child under 14 years old). Trophies are awarded to the first, second, and third place finishers in each division.

            Pre-registration is required. Contestants may register at the Rochester

Council on Aging, Senior Center, 65 Dexter Lane, Friday, May 10 and Friday May 17, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. Registration deadline is Friday, May 17, at 8:00 pm. It may be prudent for contestants who raced last year to submit their paper work on the first night of registration in the event of unforeseen circumstances that prevent them from attending the final registration and losing the starting position they earned based on last year’s finish position. This would also make the work load on the registration staff a bit easier on the last night of registration.

            Rules and registration forms may be obtained at Lloyd’s Market, and at the registration sessions. A signed registration form must be submitted by each contestant for a team to be eligible to draw a starting position.

            The Boat Race Ham and Bean supper will be served on the Saturday evening of the

Memorial Day weekend, May 25, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Rochester Council on Aging. Tickets for the supper may be purchased at the door: adults are $10 and children under 12 are $5.00.

            William Watling III has again made two carbon fiber racing paddles, one straight shaft and one bent shaft, to be raffled separately at the supper. Raffle tickets are $5.00 each per paddle and may be purchased at the registration sessions and at the supper. A Mattapoisett River Racing boat is also being raffled, $5.00 each ticket. And a fourth raffle for a handmade crocheted afghan is available. Proceeds from the raffles and supper, along with donations, fund the expenses of the race. (There is no registration/entry fee to race.)

            The river racing boat will be raffled and trophies and prizes will be awarded Memorial Day at the Rochester Memorial School at 7:30 pm.

            For further information, contact Boat Race Chairman Arthur F. Benner at 508-763-2024 or artbenner@comcast.net.

Open Table

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The next Open Table will be on Friday, May 10in Reynard Hall at the Mattapoisett Congregational Church. Doors open at 4:30 pm and supper is served at 5:00 pm. Spring is here and the meal is guaranteed to be delicious. We hope you will invite a friend or neighbor to join you. There’s nothing like a good meal and fellowship to make the day brighter. There is no charge for the meal; although, donations are gratefully accepted. 

Rochester Democratic Caucus

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The Rochester Democratic Town Committee will be holding its caucus on Saturday, May 18from 11:00 am to 11:30 am in the conference room of the Rochester Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way, to elect delegates to the State Democratic Convention.

            The Democratic Committee welcomes everyone but only registered Democrats can vote or run for delegate. Voter registration forms will be available at the caucus for same day registration. Any resident of the town may register to vote as a Democrat and participate in the caucus.

Garden Club of Buzzards Bay Plant Sale

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The Garden Club of Buzzards Bay will hold its annual plant sale on Saturday, May 11, from 9:00 am to noon at St. Mary’s Parish Center, 783 Dartmouth Street, South Dartmouth. Members have been propagating plants all winter at the Club’s greenhouse and will offer a wide variety of annuals and perennials at very reasonable prices. Gardeners will be able to buy unusual perennials from member gardens, colorful and varied annuals, an array of popular geraniums and special coleus, striking succulents, heirloom tomatoes, herbs, ground covers, and boxwood cultivars from the Rotch-Jones-Duff House Garden.

            Proceeds from the sale are used to fund community projects, including grants, scholarships, and maintenance of the gardens and greenhouse at the Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum in New Bedford. 

            The event is free and open to the public. Cash, checks, and credit cards are accepted. 

ORRHS Music Department visits the Music City

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Over the first weekend of April, 81 members of the Old Rochester Regional High School Band and Chorus, accompanied by Music Director Mike Barnicle, and eight chaperones, spent four days in Nashville, TN. The ensembles participated in Festivals of Music, where they performed for judges and received verbal and written critiques, as well as clinics with several of the judges. Both ensembles were awarded ratings of “Excellent”, and Chorus accompanist, Mason Tucker, was recognized as “Outstanding Accompanist.” 

            While in Nashville, the students were able to tour the city, see several museums and local historical sites, and tour the famous Ryman Auditorium. They also took in shows on the General Jackson Showboat and at The Grand Ole Opry. But if you ask the students, many will say the highlight of the trip was their hotel, the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, with its brand new indoor water park.

            The students in the ORRHS Music Department spent much of the year raising money through fundraisers and a performance at the school by the Southcoast Jazz Orchestra. They were also given some financial assistance from FORM (Friends of Old Rochester Music), and donations from some local organizations, including the Sippican Choral Society. You have one more chance to hear the ensembles this year, at their Spring Concert, May 8, at 7:00 pm in the ORRHS Auditorium.

No Quorum Continues Subdivision Hearing

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            The lack of a quorum during the Marion Conservation Commission’s April 24 meeting forced a continuance for the Notice of Intent for the proposed subdivision on Beach Street known as “22 Cove Street, LLC.” In the absence of Chairman Jeff Doubrava and Cynthia Callow and the recusal of commission member Marc Bellanger, engineer David Davignon of N. Douglas Schneider &Associates proceeded anyway with an overview of the project.

            The proposal consists of creating a three-lot subdivision on a bowling alley shaped lot, extending from Converse Road to Shellheap Road. It includes 213 Converse Road which contains a single-family home, called lot 3 on the plan. The other two lots will get their frontage off a cul-de-sac extending in from Beach Street over a vacant lot with a sewer stub, purchased by the owners in order to bring sewer service to the subdivision.

            The stormwater management, Davignon assured the commission, was designed to both MA Department of Environmental Protection and Marion Planning Board standards. The report generated for the stormwater management will be reviewed by the consulting engineer hired by the planning board.

            Davignon included a “conceptual” house on each of the two new lots in order to use the dimensions for roof run-off calculations. Vice Chairman Shaun Walsh clarified that the current NOI covers the subdivision, the roadway drainage structures and grading, but not the two house lots and their attendant details.

            Davignon stated that the site will be serviced by town water and sewer, and a new hydrant will be located as requested by the fire chief. The western lot had passed a perc test last fall, Davignon said, “because of the unofficial moratorium” of new sewer hookups. Walsh asked for written confirmation that the easterly lot was approved for sewer.

            At this time, Davignon asserted that unpermitted cutting of large trees and vegetation along the northern boundary of the parcel near the wetland had occurred, and was not attributable to his clients. Later in the meeting, the commission scheduled a site visit to the location and will attempt to notify the property owners ahead of time.

            Walsh said the flood zone runs through the middle of the cul-de-sac, making anything to the west of the proposed roadway out of the commission’s jurisdiction, including Lot 2 in its entirety. Davignon reminded the commission that the current application is not for any grading on the lots, but strictly for the road.

            Resident Constance Dolan, 9 Beach Street, raised concerns about the runoff from the two houses being constructed and flooding from the roadway. Davignon said a computer model calculates runoff before and after development, and the Cape Cod berms proposed for the site would direct water into the catch basins. He also observed that the water table in the area is quite high, between 30 and 36 inches from the surface, which may contribute to water flooding people’s basements.

            Another resident requested confirmation regarding the wetland line, and Walsh asked Davignon to provide the commission with a findings report regarding soil and vegetation samples. The hearing was continued for two weeks.

            Davignon also represented G. Randall and Cynthia Chamberlain in their NOI to perform improvements to a residential pier and 12-foot by 24-foot float system at 4 West Drive. The applicant proposes adding six pairs of pilings to the existing pilings on a pier built in the 1950s. The piles will be driven by a crane on a barge. New cross members and bracing will also be installed. The float is proposed to be turned 90 degrees, and the chain anchoring system to be removed. The piles will be driven to a minimum of 15 feet deep, or to absolute refusal.

            The site is located near a mapped area for protected species; therefore, Davignon submitted the NOI to the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program and is awaiting its response. The Department of Marine Fisheries suggested that the applicant relocate the eelgrass near and under the float. There was some discussion about this issue, with Walsh suggesting that the removal of the chain anchor system would be a vast improvement for the eelgrass. However, the float casting shade the eelgrass, with half the float shading a new area, is an issue to be considered. The hearing was continued for two weeks. 

            In other business, the hearing for Cynthia and John Paliotta’s proposal to remove trees and control phragmites at 119 Converse Road was continued to July 10 at the request of the applicants.

            The commission will be visiting the site of an open enforcement order for O’Leary and Welch at 82 West Avenue, the site of unpermitted clearing and filling. The enforcement order was received by the property owners on April 5, and they were ordered to install erosion control by April 8, which they have not done to date. A notice of intent must be field by May 5.

            “If we go for a site visit and nothing has been done, we contact town counsel,” said Walsh. “I’d like to talk with Jeff [Doubrava] to see if it’s prudent to reach out to [O’Leary and Welch] and see what the status is.”

            The next meeting of the Marion Conservation Commission is scheduled for May 8 at 7:00 pm in the Marion Town House.

Marion Conservation Commission

By Sarah French Storer

A Good Harvest, Indeed

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Someone out there will know the answer to this question: When humankind first developed a written language, how long did it take before poetry was created? Since that moment, whenever it was, for centuries the poet has been the one to bring forth all the emotions, sensations, observations, intuitions, and all manners of mindfulness to the written word. By doing so, we’ve learned from one another and, through the language of the poet, that learning has aided in our evolution.

            Poetry is the music of the soul. Poetry is the expression of things we could not otherwise speak. It is the life, the living, the death of all things, expressed in word with or without timing. Poetry, probably more than any other form of communication, is exclusive to humans and therefore must make us even more human.

            April is Poetry Month and the Mattapoisett Public Library closed it out in superlative form.

            On April 28, the library opened its doors to Dzvinia Orlowsky, a Ukrainian American poet born in Cambridge, Ohio to Ukrainian immigrants. She and her siblings spoke only Ukrainian at home, learning English, well the American version, from television. They learned all the swear words, of course, as well as the cultural phrases and nuances.

            As Orlowsky stood before the literary devotees who came to hear her read, a serine veil fell over facial features. She was comfortable in front of a crowd standing figuratively unclothed as her poetry flowed from her mouth – sometimes floating, sometimes bleeding.

            Orlowsky is a master at her craft. She has received the Sheila Motton Book Award, is a Pushcart Poet, and, as a translator, received the 2016 National Endowment for the Arts Translation Grant along with her translation partner. She currently teaches an MFA program at Pine Manor College and Providence College.

            But it was her childhood, which she described as having been raised “in a minor tone” that texturizes her works.

            Her most recent publication, Bad Harvest, has been praised across the country as “entrapping and entrancing … full of seductively quirky humor,” but it was her voice reading her own carefully crafted verses that reached out and touched us.

            Several of her pieces began with the despair of painful experiences, like poorly tuned instruments searching for the right note to play and then emerging lyrically to a joyful conclusion. Others spoke to the harsh realities of a woman aging, the slow deliberate waning of desire that could be rekindled, if only, and of being a woman tied to the body image myth.

            Orlowsky spoke a great deal about the wartime realities her parents faced in the Ukraine, the starvation and genocide that still runs like a river through her mental processing in spite of never having experienced those events firsthand. Children inherit all that their parents were.

            Bad Harvestwas titled after her parents’ experiences of famine and torture and imprisonment. But ultimately she rises out of that darkness from the joys of life to the crazy humor of a father wondering aloud to his Americanized daughters what the word “fack” must mean.

            Orlowsky’s presentation, while hitting on hard topics, was overall filled with light. And as an educator, she clearly is comfortable in that role.

            Orlowsky said reading poetry was not what inspired her to write poetry; it was more so listening to the verses of songs her father would sing while playing the guitar at home. But, she also confessed that, as an American kid, “My urge was towards the British invasion, you know, the Beatles.”

            To learn more about Orlowsky you may visit www.nepoetryclub.org.

By Marilou Newell

Sippican Historical Society

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In 1998, the Sippican Historical Society commissioned an architectural survey of Marion’s historic homes and buildings. The survey was funded one-half by the Sippican Historical Society and one-half by the Massachusetts Historical Commission. Due to the limits of funding, not all of the historic buildings were surveyed, but over 100 were catalogued and photographed. The results of the survey are in digital form on the Massachusetts Historical Commission’s website and in four binders in the Sippican Historical Society’s office (and at the Marion Town Clerk’s office).

            Marion (Old Rochester) is one of the oldest towns in the United States, and the Sippican Historical Society maintains an extensive collection of documentation on its historic buildings. The Sippican Historical Society will preview one building a week so that the residents of Marion can understand more about its unique historical architecture.

            This installment features 28 Main Street. The Congregational Church at 28 Main Street, built in 1841, is an unusually fine example of a Greek Revival house of worship. Its main entrance opens onto a recessed porch, fronted by monumental Tuscan columns. Architect Seth Eaton of Mattapoisett designed the church and Silas Allen built it. This prominent rectangular building is situated in the heart of picturesque Wharf Village. In the first decade of the 20th century, three stained glass windows designed by Charles Connick were added to the rear wall of the church. When this church was built, it symbolized the maturation of both Marion and the town center.

Mattapoisett Museum Charity Yard Sale

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Our 4th annual charity yard sale will take pace on Saturday, May 11from 8:00 am – 11:00 am on Baptist Street. There will be a variety of items for sale: antique tools, ceramics, antique irons, furniture, games, garden furniture, etc. Come buy a treasure and support the Mattapoisett Museum! Questions: 508-758-2844 or info@mattapoisetthistoricalsociety.org. 

Auditions – Death by Design by Rob Urbinati

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The Marion Art Center (MAC) has announced open auditions for all roles in the upcoming production of Death by Design by Rob Urbinati, a farcical look at the British Murder Mystery. What happens when you mix the brilliant wit of Noel Coward with the intricate plotting of Agatha Christie? Set during a weekend in an English country manor in 1932, Death by Design is a delightful and mysterious “mash-up” of two of the greatest English writers of all time. Edward Bennett, a playwright, and his wife Sorel Bennett, an actress, flee London and head to Cookham after a disastrous opening night. But various guests arrive unexpectedly – a conservative politician, a fiery socialist, a nearsighted ingenue, a zany modern dancer – each with a long-held secret. When one of the guests is murdered, it’s left to Bridgit, the feisty Irish maid with a macabre interest in homicide, to solve the crime.

            Auditions will be held on Saturday, May 11at 10:00 am, and on Monday, May 13at 7:00 pm, at the Marion Art Center, 80 Pleasant St. (the corner of Main and Pleasant Streets), in Marion. Performances will be Friday, August 23 – Sunday, August 25 and Thursday, August 20 – Sunday, September 1. Thurs, Fri, Sat performances will begin at 7:30 pm, while Sunday matinees will begin at 2:00 pm. Auditions will consist of a cold reading from the script. Both accomplished and aspiring actors are encouraged to audition. Participants can expect 2-3 rehearsals a week during June, July, and August. Rehearsal scheduling will be flexible and take actors’ needs into consideration. 

            Director Kate Fishman will be casting four females and four males. Actors’ ages should appear the ages represented in the following characters: Bridgit- the maid, Irish accent, fifties; Jack- the chauffer, Cockney accent, twenties; Edward Bennett-the playwright, forties; Sorel Bennett-the actress, forties; Walter Pearce-politician, forties/fifties; Eric-the radical, twenties; Victoria Van Roth-the Bohemian, any age; Alice- the shy visitor, twenties 

            For more information, call the MAC at 508-748-1266 or email MACtheater1957@gmail.com. Find more information by visiting marionartcenter.org.