Thursday, June 13, 2013

ESSEX HAPPENINGS June 7, 2013

Essex Heritage ISSUES AND EVENTS

Featured Partner Event: Seven Lectures at The Seven Gables: Giles Laroche
June 19, 2013 • The House of the Seven Gables, 115 Derby Street, Salem, MA, 01970
Salem’s noted children’s author and illustrator will delight the audience (young and old) with a demo of his art form, discussion and reading of his latest book “If You Lived Here - Houses of the World."

Salem Maritime Festival
August 3, 2013 • Salem Maritime National Historic Site, 193 Derby Street, Salem, MA, 01970
Celebrate Four Centuries of Salem's Maritime Heritage!

Featured Partner Event: Seven Lectures at The Seven Gables: Seven Lectures at The Seven Gables: Hank Phillipi Ryan
August 21, 2013 • The House of the Seven Gables, 115 Derby Street, Salem, MA, 01970
How does an Emmy winning reporter become a best-selling author of fast-paced murder mysteries? Hank will share how she went from a reporter at Rolling Stone Magazine to the US Senate and then to under-cover investigations for NBC to following her dreams.

Featured Partner Event: Seven Lectures at The Seven Gables: Robyn Kantar
September 21, 2013 • The House of the Seven Gables, 115 Derby Street, Salem, MA, 01970
Robyn Kanter, of Kanter Design Associates, worked under Dan Foley when he relandscaped the garden and has remained true to its vision.

Featured Partner Event: Seven Lectures at The Seven Gables: Brunonia Barry
November 20, 2013 • The House of the Seven Gables, 115 Derby Street, Salem, MA, 01970
Salem’s own NY Times Best-selling author, Baccante award winner & Strnad Fellowship recipient presents her latest novel fresh off the press.
Reservations recommended. Essex Heritage and Seven Gables Members $10; Non-Members $15.


News about the Congressional Evaluation of Essex Heritage for the Congress about the work of Essex Heritage  
Just prior to the holiday all of the Essex Heritage Board received the following news from Annie Harris that is most positive and an endorsement of the Essex Heritage work being accomplished.   We have waited for this report for a long time, and we are most pleased with the evaluation of the work of the numerous volunteers that make this effort so valuable to the Essex Heritage region

Dear Members of the Essex Heritage Board of Trustees:

I am pleased to report that National Park Service’s evaluation of the work of the Essex National Heritage Area and their subsequent recommendations were released and sent to the US Congress last week.  I have attached the NPS documents to this email.

You may remember that in 2008 Congress passed a bill PL 110-229 which required that NPS evaluate nine National Heritage Areas to assess our individual progress in meeting our legislative mandate, achieving the goals of our management plan, making impactful investments in the area and identifying the critical components for our sustainability.  You will see that we did well in all of these areas.  It took a long time to see this plan completed and I am delighted to be able to share this with you today!

Have a good Memorial Day weekend!  Annie

Danvers Kiwanis Club, Makes Financial Contribution To Essex Heritage
One of the major initiatives, I am supporting for Essex Heritage, is to seek contributions from local commercial contributions to develop financial support of the mission of Essex Heritage.   This is being accomplished by seeking corporate entities that might be happy to join the Essex Heritage Corporate Program.  Over the last several weeks, I have been communicating with the leadership of the Danvers Kiwanis Club about a membership.  It appears that the Danvers Social/Business group is not able to contribute to a Corporate Membership Program but they have provided a substantial amount of funding that will be allocated to one of the many youth educational programs that have been developed by the partnership. This program has been developed between Essex Heritage and the activities of Essex Heritage’s partner The National Park Service as they work with disadvantaged youth in the region we serve.

My first contact with the Danvers Group was several years ago when business members of that group asked if I would be willing to address them as a luncheon speaker.  I used this opportunity to explain our overall mission of Essex Heritage and must have made a positive impression.   I followed up that presentation with a Past President of that group, when we had a formal Gift Giving Program in place.  I reached out to Ms. Kay Maurice who provides administrative support to The Headmaster at St, John’s Prep.  She in turn directed me to C R Lyon’s Funeral Home in Danvers who was my best contact. He is the President Elect of the group for 2013.
 
Regional Issues

News and Events from the Danvers Historical Society
Programs and Fundraisers:
·         Fri. June 7, 2013 Onion Town Variety Show 7 PM Tapley Hall
·         Thurs. June 13, 2013 Annual Meeting, Dinner and  50th Anniversary of our purchasing GMF gala. Vinwood Caterers.  Wine and cheese reception 5:30, The Essex Harmony at 6:30 followed by buffet dinner $35.00 members $45 no-yet members.  Please send me your check by June 7.
·         Mon. June 24, 2013 History, Harmony, Hot Dogs and Hits. GMF. Baseball returns with Essex Baseball Team taking on Danvers High School! Britannica will rock the mansion.  Rain Date Mon. July 1, 2013 (Family Festival)
·         Weds. June 26, 2013 Danvers 3rd Graders Foresee the Future Exhibit Tapley Memorial Hall 3-6 PM (Family Festival)
·         Fri. July 12, 2013 Onion Town Variety Show 7 PM Tapley Memorial Hall
·         Fri. August 9, 2013 Onion Town Variety Show 7 PM Tapley Memorial Hall
·         Fri. Sept. 6, 2013 Onion Town Variety Show
·         Sept. 2013  Program TBD
·         Mon. Sept. 16, 2013 Golf Tournament Black Swan C.C. $125 includes golf, cart, lunch and lots of fun!! or sponsor a hole for $125. Other sponsor levels available.
·         Oct. 2012 program TBD
·         Thurs. Nov. 14, 2013 program: Richard Trask “JFK Assassination, A Personal Perspective” 7 PM Tapley Memorial Hall

Rail Trail Ceremony in Danvers
The Town’s of Danvers and Wenham have received State Grants to complete the stone dust surface on the 5.2 mile trail that had rough, rocky finish on the 5.2 mile trail.  The stone dust that is now being added will make the trail much more accessible to people on bikes or with wheelchairs.  The two towns will have to provide a 20% match which will be a bargain when one views the trail when complete. Later this summer when all of this work is completed and the leg of the trail in Topsfield is completed, a 7.6 mile uninterrupted section of the Border to Boston trail long advocated for and championed by The Essex National Heritage Commission will be completed.  The long-range vision of the trail is a 26 mile run all the way to the state border.   Essex Heritage has long seen this project as one that will allow access to open space and natural resources to residents of the region it serves and a most appropriate use of no longer used rail trails.   Congratulations to the two towns and the state Commission of Recreation and Conservation that yesterday announced 27 rail trail grants for almost one million dollars across the state for all of their efforts to see this project through to completion.

NEWS FROM DANVERS COUNCIL IN AGING
HAVE YOU EVER HAD A HEART ATTACK?
We want to know how you obtained medical care when you had your heart attack. We are asking you to share your experiences. The Heart Study of the Yale University School of Nursing invites you to complete an anonymous online survey about your care-seeking experiences. This study is supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, and has been approved by the Yale University Institutional Review Board. If you would like to participate in this study, please go to our website at: www.heartstudy.yale.edu. Or for more information, please contact Angelo Alonzo, PhD, study director, at heart.study@yale.edu.
Danvers Senior Center acknowledged for the third time by the National Association of Senior Centers.

The Danvers Senior Center recently held a gathering with Center Officials, and local elected Town and State officials that celebrated the designation of the Senior Center. This is the third time the Danvers Center was Nationally Accredited as a Senior Center.  Many friends of the center attended the event with a series of remarks about how the process was handled.  Due to an injury, I was unable to attend, but as a former Chairman of the Board of DCOA and a present member of the volunteer family wanted to offer my congratulations to the staff of the Danvers Senior Center for another bead on a fast growing string of successes managed by that dedicated staff.   I have had a number of occasions in the past to visit local senior centers like the Danvers facility on Stone Street and can only point out and acknowledged how well served we are if we choose to use the Danvers Center as a place to gather to obtain services or just gain and renew friendships.
 
Amesbury Bank Offers Space for Student Art.
The Provident Bank with a leadership team and committed to regional events is at it again.  President of the Bank Charlie Cullen, who also serves on the Essex Heritage Development Committee as its Chairman has made a prominent space in their Amesbury bank lobby for Newburyport students to display their work as part of in the Bank’s Lobby for Arts Program.  This program is now in its 16th year of a program called “Lobby for the Arts”.   The Provident Bank has long been known as a community partner in numerous events in the many communities it serves.

FARMER’S MARKET TO REOPEN IN SALEM
The very successful Farmers Market will operate again in Salem on Thursday afternoons into the evenings from 3 until 7 in space right behind the Old Town Hall.  The presentations will take place outside until October when the market will move inside the Old Town Hall.

People in the news

Passing of a Caretaker: Colleen Bruce
Over the last several years, I have been connected with a number of organizations in this region.   One of the organizations, The National Park Service is most concerned with the protection and the support provided to places.   The second organization, North Shore Elder Services, is actively connected with looking out for people.   These two previously mentioned attributes are not particular to the Park Service or to North Shore Elder Services, but only point out the primary attributes of the particular organization.   I am particularly aware of awards provided annually to individuals connected with Elder Services, as my wife Marge Leonard received the Caretaker of the Year at the Annual “We Give Thanks award Dinner” that award was given for the help provided during the time of my personal recuperation

There is little doubt in my mind that if the National Park Service had a similar award, Park Service’s First Maritime Division head Colleen Bruce would have won that award as the Primary Caretaker of the 171 ft. replica sailing ship FRIENDSHIP.

Colleen Bruce came to this community to complete the restoration of the historic wharfs at the Salem Maritime Site.  The funding for that came from the US Congress. She was not involved with the decision to build a replica sailing ship but it quickly became very clear that when the ship was recovered from the shipyard in Albany, New York and towed to Salem that the three decade employee of the Park Service was the person to be placed in charge of seeing the project to its conclusion.  She quickly embraced the project and set out to build a team of local experts who would assure that the project would be completed. Park Ranger Bruce worked closely with both Annie Harris, and myself at the Salem Partnership along with a number of other Salem maritime professionals like Fred Atkins and Russ Vickers to complete her assigned tasks.    

Colleen never personally “sailed” the ship but by the same token it never sailed to any of its ports of call.  Without her devotion to the ship and the many community volunteers that sailed the ship to its many destinations and then to get it back home to Salem safe and sound.    Many of us connected to the Salem Partnership wanted to get her to as many ports as was possible and then show off the work that has been accomplished. Colleen worked closely with all of us to move the ship around all of Essex County.  Late last week Colleen was given a traditional maritime send off by many of the people she had worked with on the ship.   Her heart and soul and her hands are over all the ship and we wish you Bon Voyage wherever you may head.   Colleen recently passed and we wish to rest in peace and thanks for a great job completed.  


Deb Payson Named Director of the Marblehead Chamber of Commerce
One of the headlines in the Boston Globe North this past weekend indicated that Ms. Deb Pesanti Payson had been named to a leadership post with Marblehead Chamber.   The report went on to speak of her undergraduate degree from Colgate University.   The announcement went on to note that prior to this new assignment that in the past she had been employed by Salem Hospital and most recently served as the Director of Development and Communications at the Essex Heritage Commission.    

There is no way that she can move on to larger challenges without a few more comments from Essex Heritage.  We acknowledge this announcement as most positive for both Deb Payson and the Marblehead Chamber.  We are pleased that her employment with the Marblehead Chamber will be anything but wonderful for that organization, as that over her time with Essex Heritage has added to a long time and mutually beneficial agreement with a most professional manner. We are confident that she will help them to achieve the goals that have been set for her.  In the period of time that Deb worked for and with the other members of the staff, members of the Board of Trustees she accomplished a great deal for Essex Heritage.   Her performance as the Director of Development and Communications for the quasi-public non-profit in Salem was excellent.  She worked with the rest of the leadership team at Essex Heritage to enhance The Essex Heritage Annual Fund and numerous other fundraising activities of the organization including the events with the National Park Service. She did spectacular work on the planning and operation of the major events offered such as Heritage’s Heritage Hero Event and the signature event for the commission named, Trails & Sails.   Deb will be greatly missed as Essex Heritage as they seek a replacement in the many roles that she played for Essex Heritage.   We certainly wish her all the best as she moves forward with her duties in a new challenge.  We are hopeful that we can continue to work with her and the Chamber of Commerce in Marblehead to improve the region.

“Teams in the News”  Another high school season is over and the region is well represented in the tournament structure.  It appears that numerous communities in the region and we hope to report on all of their successes in this space.   At the opening of the program two programs should be noted as they received number one seeding.   St. John’s Prep in positioned  # 1, but there are nearly a dozen schools behind them in the rankings.   Softball in the City of Peabody’s young woman lead the ranking but there are numerous other entries right on their heels.   Lacrosse has many participants on both the male and female side of the local draws.

Personal observations

Weather adjustments
Not on schedule and a week after the first unofficial start of summer, the heat arrives without much warning.  In a flash we went from late winter to the middle of summer and sent us in search of the AIR CONDITIONERS.



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