This is the first in a series of stories on the ongoing housing crisis. After graduating from Chatham High School in 2010, Christina Caron knew she wanted to stay on Cape. She'd loved her high school years and made lifelong friends, but as the realities of life began to settle in for Caron and her future husband Charles, also a CHS grad, she watched a familiar scenario play out. “All of our friends moved ...

CHATHAM – For the second year in a row, the town's premier summer event, the Independence Day parade, has been cancelled. Instead, the town's Independence Day parade committee will focus on assembling a virtual parade, just as it did last summer. Both the committee and the board of health recommended that the parade be called off, and on Tuesday the select board concurred, voting unanimously to cancel the l...

The Monomoy Regional School District administrator's recommendation to create upper and lower elementary schools at Chatham and Harwich elementary schools does not sit well with many of the district's parents, judging from feedback at a community forum held by the school committee last week. “I don't think this will be good for either our children or our community,” said Meara Baldwin, a Chatham resident with ...

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 ...

NORTH EASTHAM – After his team missed out on the entire 2020 season due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Nauset softball coach Harold Pini wasn’t sure what to expect from the Warriors when they finally returned to the diamond. Despite fielding a new lineup full of young players inexperienced at the varsity level, Nauset delivered in every aspect of the game during Friday’s season opener against visiting Dennis-Yarmou...

HARWICH – Although the Monomoy boys lacrosse team made some mental errors during Monday’s season-opening 15-6 loss to Martha’s Vineyard, there were also positive performances the Sharks will look to build upon in the rest of the season. Monomoy was resilient in the first half as it battled back from a 6-1 deficit by netting four of the final five goals of the second quarter. Despite trailing 7-5 at halftime, t...

After a very long pandemic, audiences will be thrilled to hear that the show will finally go on at the Chatham Drama Guild, as the comedy “Leading Ladies” by Ken Ludwig opens July 8 and runs through Aug. 8. Guild President Pam Banas had a difficult decision to make when COVID-19 health restrictions made in-person performances impossible last year. With “Leading Ladies” on the docket for the opening show of summer...

It’s not often that a writer has the opportunity to see their work transformed into a new format. So, when renowned playwright and sound designer J Hagenbuckle approached Jen Sexton-Riley asking her if she had any short fiction she felt would make a good radio play adaptation, Sexton-Riley jumped at the opportunity. Sexton-Riley, a Chronicle feature writer and ArtCast columnist, presented Hagenbuckle with mult...

Remove Stop Signs For Climate Editor: There are now some seven billion humans all adding gasses that trap sunlight. There is overwhelming evidence that it is increasing the average temperature. The town can take at least small steps to reduce the increase. A vehicle uses much more fuel when going up to speed from a stop or from having to slow down. There are a lot of stop signs that could be removed, a p...

When town meeting established an affordable housing trust, it wanted to shake things up. For years, the affordable housing committee had been trying to increase the stock of dwellings accessible to people of moderate means. Members would hear of an available property, but by the time they could bring its acquisition before town meeting, it would be off the market. So town meeting yielded some of its authori...

Harwich voters go to the polls next Tuesday, May 18, to choose among candidates running for the board of selectman and the water and wastewater commission. In these, the only contested races on the ballot, we recommend votes for Mary Anderson and Ed McManus. Mary Anderson has impressed us ever since she took over as executive director of the Family Pantry of Cape Cod in 2005. She took the pantry from a modest ...

CHATHAM – A call to 911 may be at the worst moment of your life. Whatever prompted the call – a heart attack, a stroke, a fire – "seconds make a huge, huge difference," according to Chatham Fire Lieutenant Ryan Clark, the new public education coordinator for the Chatham Fire-Rescue Department. "It's that serious." If your house number is not easily visible from the street, in daylight or at night, a new progra...