Suspension Invoked For COVID-19 Violations  HARWICH — After much sound and fury, selectmen granted a seasonal entertainment license to The Port Restaurant and Bar. But the board also issued a suspension of operations to the restaurant for three days in August for two violations of state-mandated COVID-19 guidelines. The hearing process has been long and arduous for the restaurant, with selectmen issuing the...

HARWICH —Mandatory water bans have been put in place in Harwich, Brewster, Dennis, and Orleans, four of five towns which extract public water supply from the Monomoy Lens aquifer. Chatham's water and sewer advisory committee is scheduled to discuss a ban today (Thursday, May 13). The ban allows watering on odd and even days, based on house number and calendar date, between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 ...

HARWICH — Voters expressed frustration at Saturday annual town meeting after being told they could not vote to purchase open space in the Hinckleys Pond watershed. Because the community preservation committee did not recommend the acquisition, the article had to be indefinitely postponed. After three hours, voters managed to make it through the 49-article warrant, approving town and school budgets and several ...

HARWICH – The Harwich Fund of The Cape Cod Foundation has awarded $2,000 to the Friends of Harwich Council on Aging for its Living YOUR Best Life program. The 10-week evidence-based program is designed to help seniors build resiliency and adapt when faced with stress, anxiety, trauma or tragedy, whether related to the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise. Harwich COA Director Emily Mitchell said that over the past y...

HARWICH — After six hours of testimony and debate, selectmen finally approved the seasonal all-alcoholic beverage license for The Port Restaurant and Bar. However, the board withheld action on the establishment's seasonal entertainment license and on three alleged violations of COVID-19 guideline provisions put in place by the commonwealth. Given the lateness of the hour last Tuesday, selectmen agreed to co...

HARWICH — While Gov. Charlie Baker lifted the state’s outdoor mask order as of April 30, the board of health has voted to keep in place the outdoor mask order approved last July for the commercial district in Harwich Port. The order requires the wearing of a facial covering and six-foot distancing in a section of Harwich Port from Bank Street west to Lower County Road from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Harwich remains ...

HARWICH — After the community preservation committee voted Friday not to support $360,000 toward protection of 31 acres in the Hinckleys Pond watershed, town meeting voters on Saturday had no choice but to postpone action on the purchase. Annual town meeting voters supported several other community preservation funding requests, including $1,150,000 for a new Brooks Academy foundation and the addition of a bas...

HARWICH — Voters will gather on Saturday morning at the stadium field at Monomoy Regional High School to take action on the 49-article annual town meeting warrant. Along with budgets, the warrant contains a couple of Community Preservation Act funding requests that are expected to draw debate. Selectmen Chairman Larry Ballantine said that given the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to once again move the town mee...

HARWICH — Business owners and residents are protesting the proposal to make changes in Harwich Center under a Winter Shared Streets and Shapes grant designed to improve safety and temporarily accommodate businesses during the pandemic. A dozen business owners, church officials, and residents met Friday afternoon with Town Administrator Joseph Powers at Exchange Park to discuss the temporary plans to alter park...

HARWICH — Cranberry Valley Golf Course is a self-sustaining recreational facility that also hosts charity golf tournaments. But decisions that froze out two local benefit tournaments are raising questions of fair play. When the golf committee issued its charity tournament schedule for 2021, the date the Monomoy Athletic Boosters’ Club charity event received was different than requested and the Harwich Chamber ...

HARWICH — Of the 10 restaurants that applied to the selectmen for outdoor dining under the state’s emergency provisions for restaurants, only one – The Port Restaurant and Bar – was denied. Selectmen made the decision based on general disturbances to the neighborhood. Last Tuesday the board OK'd outdoor table service licenses for nine restaurants that received approval as part of the commonwealth’s state of...

HARWICH – Clear some space on your coffee table and pull up some chairs, there’s a new board game that’s going to be the talk of Harwich for years to come. The Harwich Chamber of Commerce is creating Harwichopoly – a spinoff of the famous Monopoly board game – in an effort to continue to promote Harwich and the chamber’s members. “I go down a lot of rabbit holes with some crazy ideas, but I never thought I’...