I always post only one image per entry, but I decided to make an exception today since I have two good images and I didn’t know which one to choose.
Some of you may think this is a holiday because the Boston Marathon is held on this day or the Red Sox play their traditional home game. You would be wrong! Patriots’ Day is a civic holiday commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. It is observed in Massachusetts and Maine (once part of Massachusetts), and a public school observance day in Wisconsin. Observances and re-enactments of these first battles of the American Revolution occur annually at Lexington Green in Lexington, Massachusetts, and The Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. In the morning, a mounted reenactor with State Police escort retraces Paul Revere’s ride, calling out warnings the whole way.
The Stow Minuteman Company was reactivated in 1965 by order of the Stow Selectmen, to “preserve and perpetuate the memory and spirit of our forebears [and] promote an active interest in Revolutionary history.” They walked from downtown Stow at 4:45AM all the way to North Bridge in Concord. They are a tough group, but I didn’t check to see if they were wearing period shoes. I read a story that said at least one did not (i.e., Ms. Katy Needle). It was a great time and I felt a shiver of patriotism as I followed this great group. Although I will admit that feeling wasn’t strong enough to make me want to follow them all the way to North Bridge. By the halfway point, I had my images, so I went home to bed. That’s patriotism for you!
The first image was near dawn (5:50AM) at their stop at the intersection of Concord Road and Acton Street (Route 27) in Maynard. The second image was taken after I made a quick stop at Dunkin’ Donuts and drove over to meet the Company just before they trekked down the footpath to Old Stow Road in West Concord.
Technical Data. Image 1: Nikon D300 with Nikkor 17-55/2.8 lens at 50mm, 1/60s, f/3.2, ISO 1600. Image 2: Nikkor 70-200/2.8 lens at 85mm, 1/125s, f/3.2, ISO 800.
Ten month old Robert Emken strikes the cutest pose ever seen on the pages of The Stow Independent at the 
Well this was a rather interesting assignment. I went to my first political pow wow in Hudson, Ma attended by several Stow officials, our state representative Pat Walrath (who is retiring and was being honored for her service) and Stow’s Daisy Dearborn who was also honored for, I guess, being a democrat for umpteen years. Senator John Kerry was the keynote speaker. I’ve never felt so out of place in my entire life. Well, that’s somewhat of an exaggeration. I was worried I was going to be found out as a fiscal conservative and they were going to flog me or something. 
The Stow PTO is a wonderful organization. It funds all the “extra” things that are done at the elementary schools that the school budgets themselves don’t fund. Just this month they sponsored ragtime virtuoso Jeff Barnhart’s performance at the schools which was a huge hit. The Lions Club sponsored his performance that evening at Town Hall. Last month they sponsored children’s author and illustrator Lita Judge who told the kids about how her books are made. If you get involved with a town, you begin to realize that every other day there is a fundraiser for this group or that group. Well, Stow PTO decided to just have a dance and cover their costs as a way of giving back to everyone who has supported the organization. This year’s dance was at Wedgewood Pines Country Club and was a real blast. Image caption: Sandy Taft and Russ Estey were the most festively dress Friday night at Wedgewood Pines for the Stow PTO-sponsored “Tropical Paradise Dance”.
Eric Harmon was one of dozens of children who attended Kids Bingo night at St. Isidore’s. It was a smash hit last year and we were not let down this year. Girl Scout Troop 2521 sponsored the event (the girls called out the letters and numbers, hosted games, and manned the concession stand). Eric, you may have seen, brought the Pompo Kindergarten mascot with him. Icicles makes the rounds with each child throughout the school year.
Members of the First Parish Church Children’s Choir had the unique opportunity to sing with the American Boychoir at their performance in Stow on Thursday April 3. I could not make the concert, but was treated to some sublime sounds while I took their press images. They even inspired me to join The Sounds of Stow Chorus, which I plan to do in the fall. The 70 year old American Boychoir is regarded as the United States’ premier concert boys’ choir and one of the finest boychoirs in the world. The singers range from 4th through 8th grade and pursue a musical and academic curriculum at the school located in New Jersey. They tour all over the nation and world and record regularly with such artists and ensembles as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, soprano Jessye Norman, pop diva Beyoncé, jazz vocalist and conductor Bobby McFerrin and Sir Paul McCartney.
Christopher McGillicuddy was one of many children checking out books at Pompo’s book fair. During parent-teacher conference days in winter and spring, the Pompo library is host to Scholastic Books, which raises money for the elementary schools to buy books. Kara Wilson, Pompo Librarian, told me that the book fair has been running for many years. They used to run it at Center School in the gym/cafeteria, but then switched to the Pompo Library, both because it is a larger space and because the fair is run by library personnel and the proceeds go to support the library, so the Library seemed the most logical place to have the fair. In recent years, parent Maryanne Talpey has run the fair, but now that there is a full-time, certified librarian (Wilson), it is now being run once again by library personnel, but Talpey was there checking patrons out! About $1600 cash profit was raised and will be used to purchase library books. Wilson said: “The generosity of the citizens of Stow is simply astounding!”
Tragedy struck Stow last week with the death of Frankie DeMeo in an automobile accident. Frankie was a star wrestler for the Nashoba-Clinton varsity wrestling squad in the 112-pound weight class. Jordana Bieze Foster and Ann Needle wrote two excellent articles for The Stow Independent newspaper. Ann’s focused on the facts of the tragedy whereas Jordana’s focused more on the human side: a hard working student who struggled with learning but succeeded in the classroom and on the wrestling mat. Jordana’s article also listed the Facebook.com memorial and on MassWrestling.com. Pictured are Frankie’s teammates at sectionals last weekend.
