Former Z-Boy Wentlze Ruml Wants To Increase Opportunities On The Cape HARWICH – The Zephyr skateboarding team revolutionized skateboarding in the 1970s. Now team member Wentlze Ruml IV, owner of Cape Cod Skate Shop in West Harwich, is looking to rejuvenate the sport locally. The Z-Boys, as they were called back then, were a mix of surfers and skateboarders from the Venice and Ocean Park areas of Southern Ca...

HARWICH PORT – More than a dozen shops and businesses in the village will be joining together on Saturday to sponsor the first Harwich Port Merchants Fall Festival, featuring music, contests, craft sessions, face painting, raffles, specials and sidewalk sales. With a hint of fall in the air, the festival will include a raft of seasonal activities from a pie baking contest at Reciprocity's Cross Street Studio t...

HARWICH – Selectmen Monday supported the transition of the housing coordinator function from a contractor to a new part-time town employee, although given the duties of the job, a number of town officials supported making the position full time. Over the past few years the town has been using coordinator services provided by the Community Development Partnership, Inc. (CDP) a non-profit located in Eastha...

HARWICH – Rev. Susan Thomas has been hired as the first female settled pastor in the 274-year history of the First Congregational Church of Harwich in 274 years. Thomas became the pastor of the church on Sept. 10. Trustee Robert S. Buchanan said the church is embarking on a new journey as it welcomes the 63rd settled pastor in its long history. Thomas has two master’s degrees from Columbia Theological Semin...

HARWICH - Human activity is having an adverse impact on ecological health along town waterways, and the conservation commission is looking to take steps to reverse that. The commission has been pushing for changes to its wetland protection bylaw and the water-dependent structure bylaw over the past year. It was unable to get amendments to the bylaws placed on the annual town meeting warrant last spring b...

The good news is that Lower Cape schools generally scored above the state average in the spring round of MCAS tests. The bad news is that, in several key subject areas and grades, the state average is markedly down since pre-pandemic times. Statewide results show that many more students had gaps in their knowledge of math and English compared to students in the same grades before the COVID-19 pandemic, and few...

HARWICH – Homeowners have two years to connect to town sewer once it is available, according to new sewer connection regulations approved by the board of health last week. The new provisions, “enacted for the protection of public health, safety, welfare and the environment, wetlands and the public water supply,” were approved on Friday. There was one language adjustment by the board, and no public input was gi...

HARWICH – The Harwich Cranberry Festival used to be known as “the biggest small town festival in the country,” but today it is on the brink of folding its tent. Without additional volunteers, this year's festival may have been the last, according to HCF President Ed McManus. The festival has been around for 45 years and only twice in that time frame was it canceled: last year because of the pandemic and abo...

HARWICH – The efforts of students in John Dickson’s eighth grade civics class at Monomoy Regional High School have been rewarded with the approval of legislation that honors and recognizes veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The students in the Project Citizen program pushed for legislation to have the Route 137 bridge over Route 6 designated the “Hidden Wounds Memorial Bridge.” Next...

HARWICH – Use of the West Harwich Schoolhouse could help boost economic activity along the historic stretch of Route 28 through West Harwich, a nonprofit group told the selectmen Monday. The non-profit Historic West Harwich Schoolhouse group bid $1 for the building, which was constructed in 1871. The group’s proposal is to preserve the building and use it as a community learning center, possibly as a sa...

HARWICH – Monday was a day of culmination for Freedom Cruise Line Captain Barry Fuller, who has spent 60 years crossing seas near and far and has enjoyed every minute of those voyages.  Fuller, 80, navigated the Freedom passenger ferry into the Saquatucket Harbor channel at 5:20 p.m., escorted by the Coast Guard and the Harwich Harbormaster’s boat, both honoring a man who has spent his life on the sea. ...

HARWICH – The Harwich Conservation Trust has received a $146,700 grant to begin the Hinckleys Pond-Herring River Headwaters Eco-Restoration Project, which strives to restore water quality in the watershed.  The Southeast New England Project (SNEP) grant was announced last week by Congressman Bill Keating. Grant selections were made by Restore America’s Estuaries and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Th...