For town information, community building and real solutions

This month’s features:

– A new Office of Municipal Services (OMS) Exec Director.

– Hats as art but even more…

– Remembering Ronan

Did You Know?…

Powder Mill Road Corridor Open House

A Planning Board Quorum will attend the Powder Mill Road Corridor Open House from 6:00PM-8:00PM on November 15, 2023, at the Maynard’s Elks Lodge, 34 Powder Mill Road, Maynard MA. 01754.

https://www.mapc.org/resource-library/powder-mill-road-corridor-initiative/

The Florida Road Bridge repair is complete!

https://www.townwidemall.com/news

Around Town (Hall):

New Hires and promotions from Assistant Town Administrator (ATA) Stephanie Duggan

Introducing our new Executive Director of Municipal Services, Steve Silverstein!

Steve joins us from the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC, formerly DHCD) where he worked as a Senior Project Manager in the Capital Construction and Modernization Unit. Prior to that he spent the previous decade in France, Ghana, and Washington, DC. A native of Long Island, New York, he started his professional career in local politics working at the Nassau County Legislature. He has since spent a good portion of time based in the Mid-Atlantic, first as an undergraduate student in Virginia, then working around DC, including at the World Bank and Georgetown University. He has done considerable work in Africa including a stint as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo (a small country in West Africa sandwiched in between Ghana and Benin) and has traveled to 13 countries across the continent. Seeking to lead “a nice life in a nice place with nice people”, Steve and his wife Kate decided to leave “the literal and figurative swamp of DC for the historic and cozy charms of New England.” No stranger to Massachusetts, Steve has previously resided in North Adams, South Hadley, Cambridge, and Somerville; and, finding those places agreeable, he convinced his “Michigander spouse to flee our nation’s capital for the Bay State.” They currently live in Bolton with their 2-year-old daughter Margaux (pictured) and two dogs, Perry (13-year-old Great Pyrenees mix) and Neko (6-year-old Shiba Inu).

Steve starts on November 15th. Welcome!

Kevin Petersen has been promoted to the position of Town Accountant. Kevin has been with the town as the assistant town accountant since 2012, he lives in Maynard with his wife & son, and he is responsible for performing complex administrative, supervisory, and technical work in ensuring the proper recording and maintenance of financial records, entering and approving all financial payments, controlling expenditures of all town funds, and auditing financial records and transactions.

AND we’d like to express our sincerest CONGRATULATIONS to Sandra Baltazar as she begins her internal transfer to the Assistant Town Accountant position!

We’d like to extend a warm welcome to our new PT Public Health Nurse, Moira Carter!

We are sharing her with Concord thanks to an intermunicipal agreement orchestrated on behalf of Maynard by Health Director Ivan Kwagala in his efforts to continue to provide this important service to our residents after Emerson Hospital Home Care nursing program ended services with Maynard last year. Moira received her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from UMass Boston and her Master of Science in Nursing from Simmons College. While she’s worked in nursing for just over a decade and has spent most of that time working as a nurse practitioner, it was her last role at Suffolk University working in COVID-19 management that ignited her interest in public health nursing. As for a bit about her personal life, she enjoys time spent outside and walking/hiking with her husband, their toddler, and their dog, as well as any chance to be by the water.

Education in Maynard:

Check out our MHS student newspaper, The Tiger Times! A paper edition will be printed soon, but the newest stories are up online at:

https://maynardhighnewspaper.com/

Vote Results: Town election on new Elementary School Building debt exclusion

Coming soon: Information on financial impacts of this for the future coming next month…

Info on Green Meadow School Building plans:

https://www.maynard.k12.ma.us/o/green-meadow-school/page/gm-building-project-information

Advantage Testimonial: Student Alumnus

One of the cooler things that I have learned since leaving Maynard High School is that I had a lot of opportunities here that many other people attending larger high schools didn’t. I used to think that our town being so small, and attending such a small school, meant I was missing out on opportunities that other kids from larger schools had. However, in my experience, I have found it is often the opposite. What makes the teachers here so amazing is that they truly care. They really want you to succeed, always willing to do whatever they can to help. That is not something you find at every school. Others weren’t lucky enough to get to know their teachers as well, partly due to class sizes. Most of the people I talk to who didn’t go to a tiny school like Maynard only did one or two extra curriculars compared to the maybe seven or eight activities that I was able to do. It gave me a lot of confidence and I apply lessons I learned there every day at work and in my personal life.

Kyle McCarthy – Alumnus, Maynard High School class of 2009; Excerpt from 2022 NHS Induction Ceremony

On the Menu…

Harit Kongnakorn, owner of the Japanese/Thai fusion restaurant Smack Noodle at 45 Main Street, loves Maynard. After moving to the United States from Thailand eight years ago, Harit first went to language school and then business school. He was living in Boston but spent his free time looking for just the right place to open his first restaurant.

After looking at many places, he felt Maynard was different from other towns he looked at. “Maynard is friendly and more comfortable, totally different from Boston,” Harit said. He and his wife live in Maynard and just welcomed their first child last month.

Smack Noodle opened in May 2019 after working for seven months to set up the restaurant. Harit has always enjoyed cooking but also had to teach himself at an early age. He explained that in Thailand it is common for young children to be left alone while their parents work; by the age of six or seven, Harit was cooking for himself. While he already knew how to cook Thai food, he wanted Smack Noodle to be an Asian fusion noodle restaurant. Before opening the restaurant, Harit went to Japan for a month to learn how to make ramen, a large part of Smack Noodle’s menu.

Harit said that in Japan, ramen is made with pork belly. He felt it was too salty for American tastes so he uses pork shoulder to make the delicious broth that is the base of the ramen. The Pad Thai at Smack Noodle tastes different than most other restaurants. “We make an authentic Pad Thai, like it tastes in Thailand,” said Harit. “We use tamarind and I taste it every day to make sure everything is right. We try to serve good food with good quality that is a reasonable cost and available to everyone.”
Now that Smack Noodle is successful and running smoothly, Harit is working on his next restaurant. He’s taken over the space at 74 Main Street and hopes to have it open in a few months after renovations and remodeling are completed. It will be an Asian fusion bar with small plates to share and a place for people to relax and talk. If it’s as good as Smack Noodle is now, we’re sure Harit will have another success for all of us to enjoy. Thank you, Harit!

Featured upcoming events in Town:

November 24 @ 7:30 pm – 11:00 pm

The Ronan Fund Music Jam Fundraiser

Sanctuary 82 Main Street, Maynard, MA

The Ronan Fund Music Jam A live music event celebrating the dreamers of dreams The Ronan Fund Music Jam is a night of live music, celebration and joy.

$15 – $25

The Maynard Business Alliance’s Annual Holiday Stroll

December 2 FREE 5:45-8:30 pm with caroling, lighting and merchant stroll

Downtown Maynard Main St, Maynard, MA

The Maynard Business Alliance’s Annual Holiday Stroll The Maynard Business Alliance Please join us for this festive event in celebration of the holidays. Live music, refreshments, and decorated storefronts

December 3 @ 2:00 pm

57th Annual Maynard Holiday Parade

Downtown Maynard Main St, Maynard, MA

Join the community as we celebrate the holiday season together during the 57th Maynard Holiday Parade!!! There will be honored guests, floats by local businesses and organizations, music, and Santa

For more on events, shopping, things to do, and dining, go to: http://discovermaynard.com

Business Spotlight:

Raymond Saint Hilaire, better known as Ray, at Ray & Sons Cycle & Ski Service, 183 Main Street in Maynard

Ray is trying to catch his breath after a very busy biking summer. But he also has two messages for anyone wanting a bicycle.

Ray’s first message is for kids coming home soon from college for Thanksgiving. Ray & Sons currently has a great selection of 20-25 used bikes that have been tuned up so they work great – but they won’t get stolen because they look used and their cost is very reasonable. Perfect for a good ride and no worry on campus.

The second message is the hope people don’t wait until the last minute to do their holiday shopping. While Ray & Sons has hundreds of bikes in the shop, both new and certified pre-owned, if you want the correct size or perfect color, you need to start working on it soon. And not just a great selection of bikes but also all the accessories for your bicycle.

Ray knows what he’s talking about, having worked in the shop practically his whole life. The family business was selling televisions until 1969 when Ray’s Dad, Ray, Sr., decided to switch to selling bicycles. Ray started going to Schwinn’s school for bicycle repair when he was nine years old; two years in a row he’d be out of school for a week to learn bicycle repair.

Ray & Sons also does ski sharpening during the winter. Ray has an edging machine and a stone grinder and wax is included with all the ski sharpening tune-ups. Ray looks forward to seeing you in his shop, whether it’s for a new or used bicycle, bike accessories, or having your skis sharpened. Whatever your need, Ray is looking forward to helping you.

Artist of the Month:

People often ask me how I got started making hats…

Denise Shea

I have worked in graphic design and illustration over the years. I also do mixed-media collage and like to write, but I’m best known for my millinery.

https://maynardgrapevine.blogspot.com/

People often ask me how I got started making hats, but I think a more interesting question would be, why do I care so much about hats. Why do I wear these things? Well, those who know me might be surprised to know that I’m rather shy. These days I don’t need them so much, but it’s from wearing hats that I learned how to talk to strangers. They will often comment on whatever hat I’m wearing, and once that happens a doorway to conversation opens. I also think hats can help change the ambience of a space, whether a room, a party, or even a town. I like for places to be interesting, and if I can, in my own small way I like to be part of making them that. Another reason I like hats is that they can be a distraction–at some point I realized that when I would wear them people sometimes wouldn’t notice my mobility issues. Over the last ten years, as my gait has gotten worse, I found myself caring less about distracting from it and more about owning it. In this way, wearing hats is a kind of declaration, where the message is more like, I have a disability and I’m not afraid to be seen.

I started wearing hats as a kid, and I owe it to the two beloved hat-wearing men in my life, my grandfather and stepdad. When I was very small, I remember that I would ask my grandfather, an amateur artist, to draw a man wearing a hat, which is what he was. And my stepdad, when getting dressed up for special events, would put on a beautiful stetson before heading out the door with my mom. I would watch it all play out; how he went from being a well-dressed man to suddenly being so much more. I loved the magic that a hat could unfold. I got my own hat (a cap picked up at a department store) when I was about ten, put it on, and fell in love with the possibility of transformation.

I am so grateful to both live in and have a studio in Maynard. My husband and I landed here as newlyweds in 1997. Like many others, we needed to be in this area and couldn’t afford to live anywhere else, and I’m so glad it worked out that way. I got my studio about seven years later and have called ArtSpace my artistic home for almost twenty years. I got to ArtSpace by accident, never planning on having a studio, and now I never want to leave. It’s similar to how I feel about Maynard–I didn’t expect to be here and now I can’t imagine ever living anywhere else.

I love Maynard so much, and I believe the relationship between this town and art is particularly important. In Maynard we have the luxury of having a real, walkable downtown with establishments that are run by local, small-business people. I am so grateful for ArtSpace’s need to move into the downtown because I see the two entities as having a symbiotic relationship that can have a real economic impact. The kinds of people drawn to arts-related events are the same kinds of people that are drawn to our small specialty shops, restaurants, and our beautiful theater. People interested in the arts are also interested in authenticity and originality. Downtown Maynard’s lack of big box stores keeps it from being the cookie cutter that you could find in any other American town. Maynard is really something special, and the artistic community here is part of the fabric that makes it so.

I hope to see you in my new studio in the near future.

Volunteer of the month:

Deb Hledik: Exploring Pathways to Community

You may know Maynard resident Deb Hledik from her business, Explore Pathways to Wellness, located at 13 Nason Street

https://explorepathwaystowellness.com/

What you might not know is that she is the one who decorates the triangle where Nason and Main Streets meet and is also the driving force behind the Maynard downtown flower bucket program.
Running this program requires Deb to coordinate between town employees, business owners, the Garden Club, local artists, and other volunteers. This year, there were 46 flower buckets planted throughout town; this required coordinating people to plant, water and maintain the plants during the season from April to October. The flower buckets gave the sidewalks a pop for everyone to enjoy.
Deb got into volunteering after moving to Maynard and learning that many things that happen around Maynard are run by volunteers. She thought it was an interesting way to be involved and followed her passion to attend a Garden Club meeting. At that meeting, she learned that the Garden Club demonstrated their care for the town through plants.
She noticed the plants in the triangle between Nason and Main Street needed some trimming to see the oncoming traffic better, so she volunteered to help. Her hometown pride increased her volunteerism to not only maintain the plantings but also decorate the triangle with themes for various holidays. Deb collaborates with our local artists to paint the decorations that she installs. While working in the triangle, people have stopped to admire her work and say thank you. She realized what an impact this work made as it gave pleasure to others. Being a business owner in town, she also realized the importance of showing that downtown Maynard is lively and a place where customers want to shop, eat, and enjoy all Maynard has to offer.
Her volunteerism does not stop there; she is also active in the Maynard Community Gardeners, chairperson for the buckets, gateway planters (Welcome to Maynard signs at town lines), troughs at the old fire station, the one near Ray & Sons, and Boys and Girls Club. She is also involved with other committees in town: the Maynard Citizen Corps/Medical Reserve Corp, volunteer chair massage at Jimmy Fund Walk, and the Maynard Employee Health Fair. If you see Deb working around town, please stop to say hello and thank her for making our town beautiful.