Tag: Newton

  • Newton Goes Berserk: Scandinavian Cultural Center festival celebrates Nordic heritage

    Stephanie Conroy in traditional iking clothing. Photo by Muayad Al-Barwani

    Clashing shields and roaring Vikings aren’t an everyday sight in Newton. But the Scandinavian Cultural Center transformed into a Nordic village Saturday for the Berserk festival.

    After a five-year hiatus, Kerry Lavin, executive director of the Scandinavian Cultural Center & Library, revived the annual daylong celebration, complete with live combat demonstrations, traditional food, and historical crafts. 

    “People just love Vikings,” Lavin said. “I think it’s a fun tradition. It’s holding onto something that existed 100 years ago, when there were more Scandinavians.”

    The festival drew hundreds of visitors to the Scandinavian Cultural Center in West Newton, where 15 vendors and performers immersed attendees in Nordic traditions. The Berserk festival launched in 2017 but went on pause when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Its return this year marks the first festival since 2019.

    Inside the center’s Nordic Hall, William Short, a Viking scholar and author, gave a talk that explored how Norse beliefs shaped everyday life, from battle rituals to burial practices, while challenging misconceptions about Viking spirituality. 

    Visitors eager for a glimpse into their futures headed across the lawn to Melissa Scott’s Viking tarot and rune reading station. While tarot is often seen as mystical, Scott views her practice as a way to honor an ancient tradition rooted in Norse history.

    “What makes it so special is that you’re handling things that have been used on shields, in doorways and cups,” Scott said, referring to the runes she uses in her practice. “When you’re looking at them, you’re thinking of all the people who carved that sign.” 

    The festival’s main attraction was the Boston Viking Irish, a historical reenactment group specializing in Viking combat and blacksmithing demonstrations.

    “We’re all just a bunch of nerds that really love what we do,” said Emily Farrell, the group’s founder. “It’s a really great life – being able to love history, tell people about it and fight a little.”

    With backgrounds in martial arts, members use blunt weapons and wear traditional armor as they reenact Nordic battle scenes. Before their show, the group members mingled with visitors, offering demos of their gear and posing for photos.

    This year Berserk introduced a stone-lifting challenge led by New England Stone Lifting. The challenge gave visitors a chance to test their strength while learning about ancient Icelandic customs. 

    Jarrett McPhee, co-founder of New England Stone Lifting, is passionate about introducing the tradition of stone lifting to America. Across Scandinavia, stone lifters can find historic rocks to test their strength. However, there was no equivalent in the United States–until New England Stone Lifting.

    Aside from holding events, McPhee has started collecting and placing stones throughout New England, hoping to “build future history” and unite the stone lifting community in the United States.

    “These stones, though not historic today, can be in 40 to 50 years,” he said. 

    Among the vendors was Aili McKeen, owner of Aili’s Aerie, a fur-trapping and leather goods shop in Westport, Connecticut. Her display of fox, coyote and bear pelts offered a look into the practical skills of early Norse communities. 

    “Everybody trapped once upon a time,” McKeen said. “They didn’t just go about raiding and pillaging.”

    The fan favorite of the festival was Gunnar’s Icelandic Hot Dogs. Inspired by the famous hot dogs from Reykjavik, Gunnar’s hot dog stand is known for its unusual selection of toppings like crispy fried onions, sweet brown mustard and apple ketchup.

    Rachel Trahan and her fiancé drove from Revere just to get a taste. 

    “For me the biggest draw was these hot dogs,” Trahan said. “When we saw they had something similar, we wanted to come right away.” 

    Here are some photos from the festival.

    Bruce Conroy poses in traditional Viking attire as he sells pelts at the Scandinavian Cultural Center’s Viking Festival. Photo by Miu Tung Rong 

    A traditional Viking game, Viking Festival, May 31, 2025. Photo by Miu Tung Rong

    Stephanie Conroy in traditional Viking clothing. Photo by Muayad Al-Barwani

    Ed the Wizard poses for a photo at the Scandinavian Cultural Center’s Viking Festival. Photo by Muayad Al-Barwani

    Megan Cronin plays a traditional Viking game at the Scandinavian Cultural Center on May 31. Photo by Miu Tung Rong

    Boston University Newsroom reporter, Rayea Jain interviews Aili McKeen; fox, coyote and bear pelts are on display. Photo by Anny Zheng Wu

    Grace and Riley Holcomby are having lots of fun at the Viking festival. Photo by Miu Tung Rong

    Stephanie Carozza shows off her art and craft skills at the viking festival. Photo by Miu Tung Rong

  • Play it Forward: Newton’s Artful Pianos make music for all

    Ninn Davis photographs Tom Page while he plays a painted piano, titled “Koi Notes,” painted by Raquel Fornassaro, located in Newton Centre. Photo by Miu Tung Rong

    A symphony of sound and color takes over the streets of Newton as the Artful Pianos installation returns for the summer.

    Seven hand-painted pianos are scattered throughout the town, transforming parks and other public spaces into art galleries and stages for spontaneous performances.

    “When you walk through the villages of Newton and you see these pianos out, there are all kinds of people playing them,” said Lisa Rucinski, program manager of the Newton Cultural Development Center, which organizes Artful Pianos. Coming from a musical family, Rucinski said she understands that music can bring people together, and she takes pride in maintaining this Newton tradition. 

    The seven pianos, each painted by a different artist and given a name, are all across town through Labor Day:

    • “Embrace Everything,” by Ashley Jin, is along the Upper Falls Greenway.
    • “The Harvest,” by Columba Kenner, sits outside the Auburndale Library.
    • “In Full Bloom,” by Jenn Dua, is in Farlow Park.
    • “Somebody Come & Play,” by DaNice Marshall, is in Austin Street Plaza. 
    • “Find Zen Within,” by Gary “Zen” Chen, sits outside City Hall.
    • “Koi Notes,” by Raquel Fornasaro, livens up Newton Centre Green.
    • “Forget-Me-Not,” by Michael Talbot in Officer English Park, Newton Highlands. 

    Now in its eighth year, the Artful Pianos 2025 installation invites residents to sit down, play and take part in interactive art.

    Luca Dalzell and Ethan Lan play a painted piano, titled “Koi Notes” by Raquel Fornasaro, located in Newton Centre, while a passerby stops to listen. Photo by Miu Tung Rong

    But these pianos aren’t just for music lovers or aspiring performers.

    “People who give their pianos away for this project love to see their old pianos put to use,” Rucinski said. “Meeting the artists, seeing the focus, painstaking detail, and how much they love and get attached to their pianos–it’s just a win-win.” 

    Raquel Fornasaro, a longtime Newton resident and artist, painted the only grand piano in this year’s collection–the rest are uprights. Her piano, titled “Koi Notes,” is adorned with lily pads and koi fish, paying tribute to Crystal Lake, a picturesque 33-acre natural pond in the heart of Newton.

    Fornasaro said her vision was to bring “calmness to the busyness” of Newton Centre with her serene depiction of the lake near her house. Crystal Lake, she said, is “the place where my kids usually go whenever it gets warm. For me, it [has] extra memories of having young kids there.”

    The process of creating the piano installation begins months in advance with help from a team of movers, artists and volunteers.

    It begins with donors looking to part with their old pianos. Greg Livingston, who tunes all of the pianos, evaluates the instruments before they are selected to be in the exhibit.  

    In Farlow Park, Michael Lonzana plays a painted piano titled “In Full Bloom,” painted by Jenn Duan. Photo by Anny Zheng Wu

    Once enough pianos are identified, Griffin Piano Moving transports them to the Newton Bath House at Crystal Lake, a makeshift art studio where the painters work.

    Piano Pals, a group of local volunteers, care for the pianos all summer. They monitor the weather and rush in with tarps whenever rain threatens. Every morning, volunteers like Garrett Van Siclen head to their designated locations to unveil the pianos and return every evening to protect them from the morning dew.

    “If they aren’t getting wrapped and they aren’t being protected from the moisture of the rain, they’re quickly not going to be able to be played anymore,” Van Siclen said. 

    Van Siclen said he enjoys hearing melodies drift through Newton’s neighborhoods–whether it’s a child playing his first notes, an artist bringing her vision to life, or people pausing from their commutes home to listen.

    Van Siclen has witnessed the magic this installation has brought to Newton over the past three summers.

    “Last year,” he said, “there was a couple, and they would come up here every night and play the piano.”

  • Pumped for Pickleball: That click-clack sound you hear is Newton’s newest fanatical sport

    Sharé Kenya and Zhong Zhang enjoy playing pickle ball at the Wells Avenue YMCA. Photo by Wen Qi

    Pickleball has won the hearts of Newton’s 50-and-older crowd over the past two years–as a leisurely hobby for some and a high-stakes competition for others.

    As early as 7 a.m. year-round, Newton residents hear the click-clacking of red pickleballs hitting the courts, interrupted by spats over game calls and paddle tapping to show good sportsmanship. The players, many of them retired, defy all assumptions about their age group as they march onto the court.

    “It’s been kind of crazy to see how big it is here for sure,” said Michael Cornish, assistant director of sports at the Wells Avenue YMCA in Newton. 

    Cornish has worked as the assistant sports director there for two years and became the head of pickleball last summer. When he first joined the Y, the sport hadn’t yet made its way to the mainstream in Massachusetts. But he noticed an uptick on the indoor courts in the winter of 2023-24.

    “I know I talk to a lot of people who are retiring, and they’re here every day because this is their post-retirement thing,” Cornish said.

    The indoor courts at the Wells Ave YMCA can hold up to 24 players, and Cornish says they fill up when the gym opens at 7 a.m., with an additional 20 to 30 picklers standing in line to play. This is the case until around 10 p.m. (earlier on weekend nights) when the gym closes.

    “It’s gotten to the point where it’s more popular than tennis,” Cornish said.

    With only three indoor courts available, the Church Street YMCA gym in Newton is not a primary destination for local picklers, but the courts still fill up when they’re available, said Paige Willis, the sports and recreation director at Church Street.

    “They’re always asking for more, but we have other programming,” Willis said.

    Joel Pritchard, a congressman from Washington state, created the sport out of an old badminton court in his backyard to remedy a boring weekend with his family and friends in 1965. Twenty-five years later, in 1990, the game spread to all 50 states, and it continues to grow today.

    Pickleball gained even more popularity during the pandemic as an easy way to exercise; it doesn’t involve close contact or extreme physical exertion. Influential celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney helped popularize the craze when clips of them playing went viral on social media.

    “It gives you an objective,” said Agi Sardi, a computer engineer in Newton who plays at the Y up to three times per week.

    Sardi says pilates and yoga are just as good of a workout as pickleball, but working with a group motivates her more to get active.

    Rich Bryden keeps his focus on the pickleball at the Wells Ave YMCA, Newton. Photo by Wen Qi

    Paul Antonellis, who is retired, started playing three years ago, practices an average of five days a week, and participates in tournaments with friends around the area. He said the game does come with risks.

    “There’s a lot of injuries,” he said. “I tore two tendons last year. I was out for four months because I gotta let it heal. A lot of people have leg injuries, they fall, yeah, there’s a lot. The orthopedic people love pickleball.”

    Toward the beginning of the craze, Cornish says, some players took the game too seriously, which led to fights.

    “They’ve gotten better with it as of lately in terms of being able to turn it down a little bit,” Cornish said, “but definitely in the beginning people were getting very competitive to the point where like, you know, me or my supervisor would pretty much have to go on there and warn them that they have to relax a little bit or they can’t play.” 

    He recalled an instance when a player let his passion get the better of him.

    “I remember these two grown men in their 40s or 50s,” he said. “One of them was going to put away the pickleball net, the other one wanted to keep playing, and they got into an argument that led to a push, led to a couple shoves, and we had to step in and break it up.”

    While there have been several instances pushing the boundaries of good sportsmanship, Cornish concedes most players do not resort to violence and stick with trash talk.

    Michael Sseksi, 25, a certified nursing assistant in Waltham, plays five times a week with a patient in Newton he cares for. His patient has cognitive issues that affect his personal life, but when he gets on the court, Sseksi says, he knows exactly what to do.

    “So that, I think, helps him to keep his mind together, like something that he can hold onto,” said Sseksi, who is originally from Uganda.

    After Sseksi began to take his patient to pickleball, he realized that he should join the game and get some exercise instead of watching from the sidelines.

    “Whenever I would come in in the morning,” Sseksi said, “they would say, ‘Hi, Michael,’ and I felt like I was home.”

  • No Yolking Matter: Egg shortages and price hikes not going over easy for Newton restaurants

    By Emily Wyrwa

    “When life gives you eggs, make an omelet,” so they say. But what do you do when you can’t find any eggs? Or when they cost so much you can’t afford them?

    Bird flu outbreaks have caused egg prices to skyrocket. As of Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that more than 23 million commercial birds were infected by the avian flu, causing a massive impact on poultry trade. Restaurants, especially diners and breakfast spots, are paying the price.

    Jeff Debonee, owner of the breakfast and lunch spot Sandwichworks in Newton Centre, cringes when someone orders an omelet. Or worse — when a “big guy comes in says, ‘Yeah, give me four scrambled eggs.’” He’s been in the restaurant business for 34 years, “but this is about as bad as [he’s] seen for any one item.” 

    “It’s a serious problem for us.” Debonee said. “You look for a light at the end of the tunnel, but I’m not sure that there is one anytime soon.” 

    Before COVID, Debonee said he could get a case of 15 dozen eggs for about $15. When the Massachusetts law requiring all eggs sold in the state to come from hens raised cage-free took effect Jan. 1, 2022, the prices went up to $30 for 15 dozen — “double the price, but nothing compared to where we are now,” he said. A month ago, prices rose to $65 for a case. Two weeks ago, cases were $93. Now? $118 a case.

    “It’s a little worrisome because it seems like we’re still going in the wrong direction,” Debonee said. “I couldn’t get any from one distributor this week. So if it gets much worse, there just aren’t going to be any eggs.” 

    Debonee put a 50-cent surcharge on items like omelets and scrambled eggs. Specials that used to frequent the rotation like quiches are off the table — he’s trying to encourage diners to order things like pancakes where he can. 

    Mark Lidsky, manager of the Corner Café, said his restaurant also added a 50-cent surcharge. The breakfast and lunch spot — which features an entire “egg bowl” section on its menu — uses about 60 dozen eggs each week. 

    “Everybody’s talking about it,” Lidsky said. “A couple other stores around here haven’t been able to find eggs, and so they’ve come to us for eggs a couple times.”

    Over at Cabot’s, a restaurant and ice cream shop on Washington Street, “we’re holding our own,” said general manager Theo Valas. 

    Valas’ main concern isn’t necessarily price—it’s what will happen if he can’t get eggs. As the bird flu decimates flocks across the country, wholesalers are reporting supply shortages. 

    “I think we’ll push through it like everything else,” Valas said. “We just come in and do the best we can every day and try to offer a quality product. And I think if the product is not there, then I would rather not offer anything else unless it’s to our quality standards. We’re luckily not there yet.” 

    Avian flu impacts chickens much like the flu does humans — they can suffer from lack of appetite, coordination, and energy, as well as coughing, sneezing and nasal mucus. It can cause a 90% to 100% mortality rate in chickens, according to the National Chicken Council, a nonprofit that advocates for the U.S. broiler chicken industry. 

    Rox Diner in Newton Highlands has always bought free-range local eggs. The issue has been scarcity, said owner John Fortim. Before the avian flu hit, Rox had contracted a price with its supplier for a dozen eggs — “brilliant business move, right? Well, not so fast,” Fortim said. The contract did not state a minimum number of cases the supplier had to sell the diner. 

    “The attempt is to try and cut volume in what we’re able to order, and that pushes us into the wild west with everybody else,” Fortim said. “It’s kind of knocking on our door, and it is hitting us, but it’s not as bad as it’s going to become.”

    Fortim said he’s doing everything he can to avoid raising prices — particularly for the sake of his regular customers who eat at the restaurant daily. He wants to continue offering a communal space for his regulars, and knows that even small increases can mean the difference between coming in daily and weekly. 

    Kay Masterson, co-owner of Johnny’s Luncheonette, said she’s “sensitive to the economic diversity of people who rely on us,” which makes her weary about raising prices. So far, “we’ve managed OK,” she said, and she remains optimistic about the future. 

    Masterson thinks the diversity of the menu at Johnny’s — which includes all-day breakfast as well as plenty of soups and sandwiches for lunch — is protecting them from price shocks. She is empathetic toward smaller operations that may be feeling the strain more. 

    “I hope [patrons] will understand that each operation is different,” Masterson said. “And the stresses and strains financially on each place are different, so each owner is going to have to make the decision that’s right so they can keep their doors open.” 

    This story is part of a partnership between the Newton Beacon and the Boston University Department of Journalism