ESSEX HAPPENINGS, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2010
Essex Heritage Annual Meeting
Just after this posting is made to the Essex happenings BLOG, I am heading to Beverly to participate in the 2010 Essex Heritage Annual Meeting. In the Friday posting to this communication, I will provide some detail on the meeting and awards provided. We have added several new Commissioners, and as in the past recognized some outstanding people for their work in this region.
Essex Heritage Photo Contest Deadline
As we enter the final weeks of October, we are just about in the middle of the traditional fall season of the year, and that is such a wonderful time for photo enthusiasts. This is a spectacular time for all amateur photographers to take your camera in hand and record some of the wonderful scenes found all over this region where we live or work. There is a secondary benefit as well, as it is not too late to enter your pictures in the 2010 Essex Heritage Annual Photo Contest, The deadline for entering is November 1, 2010 so that only gives you less than a week to gather your photos and enter them in one of four categories that this years contest will feature. The four categories this year are: People, Essex Heritage Events, Essex Heritage Scenic Byway, and the Four Seasons. This is wonderful opportunity for the many amateur photographers in the region, and we know that there are thousands of you out there, to help capture the essence of the Essex National Heritage Area that speaks to Essex Heritage’s role in preserving the historic, cultural or natural treasures of this region. Look back on the photos you my have taken at Essex Heritage Photo Safaris, or at Trails and Sails events or along the 85 mile Scenic Byway along the Essex County coastline from Lynn to Newburyport. For additional information or for contest rules visit our website at www.essexheritage.org. Don’t hesitate and act today.
October is Membership Month at Essex Heritage
You only a have a few more days left to obtain a membership at Essex Heritage during membership month. The special promotion that hopes to sign up one hundred new members this month is fast coming to an end. There are great benefits available, and at the same time you will helping Essex Heritage as it continues to extend its reach and support of its numerous Essex Heritage partners. For more information contact Elizabeth Rankin at 978 740 0444 or contact us at www.essexheritage.org/membership.
Travel Alerts
In parts of Europe there have been a number of recent travel alerts issued with an eye toward possible terrorist activities. It appears that France has been particularly careful and some airlines have even cancelled certain flights to and from that country. These kinds of alerts are difficult for the travel industry in general and also have had a negative effect of the general health of the world wide economy. Fortunately for this region the threats that have surfaced in other parts of the world do not seem to be causing much of a slowdown here in Essex County. The crowds of visitors that are flocking to Salem particularly on weekends are maintaining a record setting pace. Weekend weather so far in October has been excellent and the fact that this year there are five full weekends in the month of October has been most advantageous to the regions Halloween celebrations. One of the barometers used each year to measure the success of the season is hotel bookings, and at a recent meeting of the Salem Partnership two members of that segment of the Salem market indicated that the month would be setting records in bookings over any previous year. Another of the barometers used to measure visitors has always been the evidence presented by the Park Rangers at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site Visitor Center on liberty Street in downtown Salem, and while the numbers are not yet official, it appears that counts of visitors to that location are also at record high levels, From a purely personal observation, parking in the city of Salem is becoming more and more difficult to find as the month moves ever closer to the Halloween Holiday and the traffic on the roads in and out of Salem is as heavy as I can ever remember. The final weekend of the month long celebration is just a week away, and it certainly appears that the visitation in all parts of this region are up, and the financial benefits of that will be most positive as we head towards the end of the year.
Danvers Historical Society Lectures Offered
Whenever possible, we try to provide information about lectures and presentations that are being offered in this region that help extend our mission. The Danvers Historical Society has scheduled two events for their members and prospective members. The first of these sessions in scheduled for tomorrow evening and the second event is scheduled early in November. The events are as follows:
- Wednesday, October 27, 2010…Dan Tremblay of Heritage Films will present a short film appropriate for the season at the Tapley Memorial Hall entitled “Local Haunts and Ghosts”. The event will be free to all, and light refreshments will be served.
- Wednesday. November 10, 2010…Attorney Richard Gilmore, a past president of the Society and the Deputy General of the Mayflower descendants will present at 7:00 pm at the Society’s Endicott Mansion at the Glen Magna Farms property a lecture entitled “Genealogy/Plymouth Colony/Mayflower Descendants. This event is free for Society members and $5 for those not yet members.
For reservations at either Danvers historical Society events, call 978 777 1666 or e-mail dhs@danvershistory.org.
Dredging and Sand Restoration Project in Salisbury and Plum Island
Over the last several months, mush has been written in both this communication and other media sources about the Merrimack River dredging project, the project has been on the drawing board for many years, and over the last three years both the leadership and the residents of both Salisbury and Plum Island have bee anxiously waiting for the project to begin. The project was planned to solve both the need to provide a major dredging effort on the Merrimack River maritime channel, but also to redeposit the sand dredged in the effort in the two locations where it so desperately needed. We now hear that effective October 13, 2010 that the massive $5.5 million dollar project is now complete. This time around the dredged material instead of being deposited off shore was pumped onto the two endangered beaches. In total almost 150,000 cubic yards of sandy sediment was pumped onto the beaches , with 36,000 yards being deposited in Salisbury and the remaining 111,000cubic yards supporting the effort to hold back the ocean from the many Plum island residence that have been attacked for the last several years by the angry ocean during traditional Northeast storms. This has been a major undertaking accomplished with a combination of federal, state and local funds and we can only hope that this will help “stem the tide”.
Boston Professional Winter Sports Teams
When the end of the season Major League baseball playoffs begin, and the local entry is not part of the action we are always disappointed, but spring will come soon enough and we can always hope for better results in 2011. But even with the Red Sox early departure, there is much positive to relate relative to the local professional entries to be encouraged about. I am enjoying watching the young catcher for the San Francisco Giants, as in 2006 and 2007 he was the acknowledged leader of the Yarmouth/Dennis Red Sox in the Cape Cod league and led them to two titles. He is certainly living up to the promise that was evident at that time. The New England Patriots have surprised many with their early success and seem posed for at least a run at the playoffs, and the Bruins are trying to help us all forget the collapse this past spring, and their season has started with a new 18 year old projected super star on the team and more promised scoring in 2011... As always the Celtics remain a constant of sorts as they have “beefed up’ with a couple of large bodies including the incredible “Shaq” to make another run at a championship that fell just one game short in 2010. So let’s look forward to this new winter sports year with great optimism. In New England, hope always springs eternal.
As always we value your comments, questions and observations about the work of Essex Heritage. Please contact me with your thoughts or any questions you may have at www.essexheritage.org. We are always striving to make Essex Heritage work as effectively as possible and your input and suggestions are always welcome. We can always provide more information and better communication, and one of the goals of these postings on Essex happenings is to provide that opportunity. Thank You. Tom Leonard
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