HARWICH — Like spring flowers, arts and culture are blossoming in Harwich. The seed that was planted a year ago when selectmen approved the use of the former middle school for a cultural center is blooming. This weekend will be the start of ArtWeek, a statewide celebration of the arts in the commonwealth, and Harwich will be center stage with demonstrations, performances and exhibits. But that is just one peta...

HARWICH — The water commission will hold a public hearing May 4 on proposals to change to quarterly billing and adjust the rate structure to reflect four billing cycles. The commission supported the changes after weighing a peer review analysis and fee rate study. “The dollar value of the rates stay the same,” said Water Department Superintendent Daniel Pelletier, but the per gallon tier use numbers will be ad...

HARWICH — Opponents of the proposal to build a pet crematorium adjacent to the pet burial ground on Queen Anne Road stood before selectmen Monday night requesting that the town meeting article seeking $577,950 to build the facility be withdrawn from the warrant. The statements presented to the board related to government competing with private enterprise and the use of taxes to build the facility when the town...

If you've taken a stroll through your favorite conservation area lately, you might notice something other than buds on the bushes and birds in the trees. Local forests are littered with trees that were downed by the series of coastal storms that battered the area last month. And that means fuel for forest fires. There were several small brush fires around Cape Cod early this week, thanks to dry conditions and ...

HARWICH — Saturday's first World Fish Migration Day drew a lot of interest in the herring that migrate to headwaters ponds to spawn. But the fish were not as plentiful at the run as the people who came to observe the them. The event was sponsored by the Barnstable County Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, state Division of Marine Fisheries, Harwich Conservation Trust and the Harwich Natural Resources Department a...

HARWICH — As voters head into town meeting next week to act on funding phase two of the comprehensive wastewater management plan, town officials and their consultants last Thursday night sought to answer outstanding questions on the minds of residents. At a cost of $24.7 million, phase two would sewer 640 properties in a portion of the Pleasant Bay Watershed and fund 90 percent of a pumping station that would ...

HARWICH – Stellar pitching, solid defense, and a strong second inning led the Monomoy Sharks to a big 5-1 baseball victory against the Bristol-Plymouth Craftsmen on Monday afternoon, boosting their overall record to 3-2. It was a game that included a number of highlights, such as sophomore Joe Cottle's top-notch complete game performance that saw the right-handed hurler throw 14 strikeouts and 18 first pitch s...

HARWICH – The Monomoy girls varsity softball team played hard April 21, but fell one run short in each of their two games in a weekend doubleheader against Bishop Fenwick. Pitcher Mollie Charest recorded 14 strikeouts in the first game and 10 in the second, while Emma Thacher added two RBIs in the outing, going 2-for-3 in both games. Maddie Crossen and Kathleen Prescott each went 2-for-4. Although the Shark...

Fisherman Mike Russo examined a decades-old clamming rake he had brought from the garage into the kitchen. His soot-colored cat George sniffed it warily. “I paid a lot of bills with that sum’ bitch,” he said with a grin. Russo said the first rake he bought, he tore the teeth right off when he went quahogging. Ron Ribb took one look at that rake, then at burly Russo, and said he’d fix the problem. He built a...

The Hungry Traveler, the popular five-week documentary film series produced by Carol Yindra as part of the Eldredge Public Library Learning Series, whets your appetite again this year as it returns to Chatham’s Orpheum Theatre beginning Wednesday, May 2 at 10 a.m. The five-documentary series is socially informative as it highlights culinary tours of exotic foods, delectable wines, interesting locations and col...

E lection, Town Meeting Deadlines Letters relating to Chatham's annual town meeting and election will be accepted for publication through the issue of May 3. Irrigators Should Pay For Water Editor: I am writing in support of the editorial regarding water rates.  We have owned our vacation home in Chatham for 20 years.  During that time we have seen countless number of McMansions built, all with ma...

Any deaths from opioids are tragic and wasteful. We have seen our share of them in our local communities, and while not always high profile, they have the same devastating effect whether the cause is spoken about or hushed up. The more than 500 Cape Codders deaths due to opioid overdoses since 2000 have caused emotional anguish, social instability and economic woes throughout the community. Various agencies ha...

“I don’t believe in frettin’ and grievin’ Why mess around with strife I never was cut out to step out and strut out Give me the simple life.”   While doing research for a course on The Great American Songbook that I’m teaching with Steve Bornemeier as part of the Learning Series sponsored by the Friends of the Eldredge Public Library, I came across the old song “Give Me the Simple Life.” I’ve alway...

The Lower Cape economy relies heavily on guest workers from Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and other parts of the world, but with strict limits on the H-2B visa program – and a shortage of housing – local employers always seem to be scrambling for more staff. “I know the Cape, as a whole, is concerned,” Harwich Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Cyndi Williams said. Though she hasn’t heard specific problems...

ORLEANS — Fewer Orleans residents died in 2017 than in the previous two years, an even 100 as opposed to 114 in both 2015 and 2016. That's one of the facts in the Annual Town Report for year 2017, now available at town hall and worth a look-through before the May 7 town meeting. One of the 100 deaths in 2017 was that of Jean Finch, the founder of Cape Cod's first skateboard park, which is still located at...

ORLEANS — The list of what didn't happen at 353 South Orleans Rd. over the last two centuries could be shorter than the list of what did. The property at the corner of Namequoit Road and Route 28 has been home to a sea captain, a selectman, a state representative, a lay preacher, a salt maker, a farmer, and a cultivator of trees – and that's just the life of John Kenrick, Sr., who lived there for the first h...