Author: Yasmine Chang

  • Natick Spooktacular combines tricks, treats, books & more

    Children clad in costumes and fall-weather outfits weaved in and out of the crowd at Natick’s annual Spooktacular & Trick or Treat Parade at the Town Common this past Saturday.

    New promoters, the Bacon Free Library and the Joseph Keefe Bookmobile, joined the standard slate of local community partners in attendance.

    Director of the Bacon Free Library, Amy Sadkin, emphasized how essential public libraries are to the community. “It’s so important for kids to be able to read — and adults as well,” she said. “And we provide educational materials for all ages. So, it’s great to be able to meet everybody and talk about it.”

    On one side of the city green space, the Bacon Free Library booth offered button-making with Halloween-themed images, as well as information and a sign-up list labeled, “Trustees of the Bacon Free Library” for people interested in volunteering, donating or learning more about the library.

    Across the Common, the Bookmobile was parked on the street. Emily Toombs, the Outreach Librarian for the Morse Institute Library, was dressed as the character Enid from the horror-comedy Netflix show “Wednesday.” The Bookmobile was also dressed in Wednesday-themed decorations, including an animated Nevermore Academy screen on the exterior. The inside of the Bookmobile featured fake spiderwebs and spider decorations.

    According to Toombs, the Bookmobile’s main purpose is to bring literacy to the community. The mobile library stays primarily in Natick, but it’s drivable.

    “I think to be able to bring reading to people is really cool, because not everybody has access to get to the library all the time,” said Natick resident Cris Flores, who attended Spooktacular with his wife and two children. “So, to be able to have the different community stops, I think it’s great.”

    The Bookmobile also serves as a listening post for the Morse Institute Library. “Knowing what interests people in the community, what languages we need to be stocking in the library and then also making people aware that we’re here for them,” said Toombs, describing the library’s goals. “We’re their librarians, and we’re here for the community, and we want to put on the shelves what people want.”

    In addition, Flores said Spooktacular is also good for businesses. “It’s great (for businesses) because there’s so many, we all get to know Natick in and out because they’re here, representing their business.” 

    For both the Bookmobile and the Bacon Free Library, funding largely comes from external sources. The volunteer-led nonprofit, Friends of the Morse Institute Library, buys most of the Bookmobile’s collection. The town of Natick and donors fund the Bacon Free Library’s services and programming.

    Natick resident Lily Sun said she and her family enjoy supporting local businesses at community events. “It provides a very safe environment for us struggling with young kids, where we can just trust them and come here and spend our morning,” she said. “We come here, (and) we try to support local businesses.”

  • Natick police collect 50-plus firearms at gun buyback event

    Natick police collected 57 firearms at a gun buyback event Oct. 11, including 36 handguns, six shotguns, three rifles and 12 other weapons such as BB guns and starter pistols.

    The event at Hartford Street Presbyterian Church exchanged gift cards for firearms as part of an effort to remove unwanted weapons from homes. Residents were encouraged to drive to the church with unloaded firearms in their trunks, where Natick police and the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office workers collected, recorded and disassembled the weapons.

    “A family member died. These guns were in the attic. They’re in the basement. Family has no interest in them. (People are) looking for a safe process in which to get rid of these guns,” said Lt. Christopher Foley of the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office. “It’s going to keep them out of the hands of children, the mentally ill (and) potentially criminals.”

    The buyback was organized by former Natick Select Board member Erica Ball, her husband, Jay Ball, and Natick resident Richard Sidney. Gift cards from Amazon, Ben & Jerry’s and Stop & Shop were purchased with a $10,000 grant from the MetroWest Health Foundation. Leftover cards were donated to local nonprofits including A Place to Turn, Family Promise Metrowest and the Natick Service Council.

    “The idea of a gun buyback started when I was still actively involved in the town, “said Erica Ball. “Especially in urban settings, I don’t think that there’s a place for guns. If you live in the West and you hunt, or you either hunt for your livelihood or hunt for sport, that may be a different story.”

    Natick Chief of Police James Hicks said the program is a response to the problem of unlicensed residents finding firearms in relatives’ homes and not knowing how to dispose of them. “They are not licensed, so they know they can’t handle them, but just keep them,” he said. “And then it ends up where you end up with a weapon that may be in a house that it shouldn’t be.”

    According to a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health report, there were 270 gun deaths in Massachusetts in 2023. Of those, 121 were homicides, 147 were suicides and 10 were people younger than 17.

    “Every time I hear of one of these gun shootings, my heart just breaks,” Erica Ball said. “I’m someone who’s lost a child not to a gun, (but) to a truck accident. I have experienced what that feels like, and every time I hear about it, or I see this needless loss of life … I say to myself, ‘There must be something we can do.’ And this is one way, and it feels good.”

    Foley and his team checked to make sure the firearms were not loaded before placing them in the trunk of the police vehicle on site, which was designed for the storage of ammunition and firearms.

    The firearms were then logged and examined to make sure they weren’t stolen or used in a crime. Afterward, the fully functional firearms were to be sent to the Massachusetts State Police Firearms Identification Unit for destruction, while incomplete firearms were to be sent to scrap metal recycling company Schnitzer Northeast.

  • Natick Days 2025 preview: Community’s ready to gather on the Common

    Thousands of visitors are expected to attend Natick Days this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Natick Common. Featuring food vendors, bounce houses, carnival games and more, the annual event raises money for local charities and celebrates the work of community organizations and volunteers. If it rains, the festival will be pushed to Sunday from 1-5 p.m.

    “It is the premier opportunity for nonprofit and other community groups to connect with people who live in Natick,” said Joshua Ostroff, president of Friends of Natick Trails, a non-profit group focused on the preservation and enhancement of local trails. “We’ve attracted a lot of interest and support over the years at Natick Days and so we would never miss it.”

    The community festival debuted in 1998 as an effort to consolidate fundraising, inform the public about local resources, and increase the safety of groups attempting to raise money. Before then, according to the town’s website, sports teams and others would frequently solicit funds at the busy intersection of Massachusetts Routes 135 and 27.

    Natick’s Recreation & Parks Department Director Lauren Meurer reported several changes to Saturday’s event. While the festival itself is free to enter, ticket prices for vendor goods increased from 25 cents to $1. “It felt like it was a little bit overdue,”

    Meurer said. “Not a lot of things cost 25 cents anymore.” In addition, the event’s shuttle will now solely operate out of Wilson Middle School.

    Keefe Regional Technical School, the festival’s headlining sponsor, is bringing its culinary arts program to sell food at Natick Days for the first time. Town Communications Director, Jay Poropatich said street tacos and other dishes will be available. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is sponsoring free, portable drinking fountains.