CHATHAM – Voters at Saturday's special town meeting will be asked to endorse a site for a new senior center for the second time in less than a year. Last May, town meeting rejected building a $6.6 million center to house council on aging programs on town-owned land off Middle Road. At the Jan. 4 meeting, which takes place at 1 p.m. at Monomoy Middle School on Crowell Road, voters will be asked to set aside $75...

CHATHAM – The iconic Chatham Fish Pier Market, founded more than half a century ago by Willard Nickerson, has been sold. Steven Gennodie, who owns a fish processing company on the Boston Fish Pier and two retail fish markets on the South Shore, purchased the fish market and take-out eatery adjacent to the town's fish pier last month from Andy Baler for $1.2 million. Gennodie said most of the market's staff ...

CHATHAM – Negativity and hope competed for attention in town during 2019. Voters turned down a new senior center, but hope remained that a new location would be approved; an ugly fight developed over a new master plan for the airport, with accusations about conflicts and insensitivity flying faster than a falling skydiver; extreme weather struck but the response was immediate and competent; failure to complete...

Funds Help Young Working Families CHATHAM — When it comes to meeting the high cost of living on Cape Cod, the expense of preschool and after-school child care is a big challenge for young working families. For several years, Chatham’s human services committee has funded a childcare voucher program, and in light of increased demand, town officials are expected to expand the program slightly in the next town bud...

SOUTH HARWICH — When the public park at Ryder’s Cove is finally built, there will be two comfortable places for visitors to stop and reflect, thanks to the volunteer woodworkers of the Chatham-Harwich Newcomers Club. The men are putting the finishing touches on two custom-made mahogany benches to be installed once the park is ready. Earlier this year, town meeting appropriated $79,000 to clear invasive species...

CHATHAM — The U.S. Coast Guard will soon be removing the “C” buoy, the main offshore navigational aid marking Chatham Harbor. And that’s raising a red flag with local mariners. Updating the waterways advisory committee last week, Harbormaster Stuart Smith said the Coast Guard published the decision in the lengthy Notice to Mariners, but no one took notice until he received a call from the chief of the cutter a...

CHATHAM – In 1985, artist Debbie Hearle and her husband Ron took a chance and bought an 1850s-era building at 488 Main St. and opened a gallery. They'd never operated one before, but felt the opportunity was just too good to pass up. “We teamed up to do it,” Debbie Hearle said, adding that their two boys, pre-teens at the time, also pitched in. Thirty-five years later, the Hearle Gallery is a Main Street ma...

CHATHAM – Residents who live near a proposed solar array on Middle Road are concerned about the impact of the facility on their quiet neighborhood, and recently asked the planning board for more time to study the plans before issuing site plan approval. The board concurred, noting that members had quite a few questions about details of the project. “It's very clear we need a lot more information,” said Chai...

CHATHAM — Though it would require a regulatory sea change to accomplish, a proposal to use parts of Nantucket Sound off South Chatham as a shellfish grow-out area has sparked some tentative interest. Stephen Wright, who co-owns Chatham Shellfish Company with John Richards, made a presentation to the waterways advisory committee last week, saying they are seeking to establish an experimental grow-out area in a ...

CHATHAM — As any seasoned First Night reveler will tell you, Chatham’s family-friendly New Year’s Eve celebration wouldn’t be the same without music. But this year, they’re striking up the band like never before. Inspired by new musical acts like Chicago Total Access, a Chicago tribute band; Beatles tribute band Studio Two; and rock band The Placeholders, First Night organizers chose “Strike Up the Band” as th...

CHATHAM – In 1998, the chamber of commerce was notified that Chatham was one of several towns in the state not represented at the State House with its own flag. The chamber sponsored a contest to come up with a town flag design; 23 artists submitted 63 different designs for consideration. The winning design—the Chatham Twin Lights and Coast Guard Station in a field of blue, with a cod, lobster, scallop and cla...

CHATHAM — Educators know that a key way to boost school performance in older children is to encourage reading, almost any kind of reading, when they’re young. So in Chatham, they’ve found a new way to bring the books to the kids. As part of the Monomoy School District’s effort to encourage early childhood literacy, school officials and volunteers have installed a Little Free Library at Lake Street Terrace, a C...