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Local Business
The Flower Pot: A Valentine’s Day Staple
by Mark Alston-Follansbee
Roses! Thorns! Leaves! Everywhere! How does a florist prepare for one of their biggest days of the year? For Kathy Cormier of Maynard’s The Flower Pot, preparations for Valentine’s Day started in early January. She has already pre booked 2,000 roses and expects to do between 150 to 200 deliveries on Valentine’s Day. It’s a lot of work organizing five delivery drivers and staff working out of the basement next door and four others in the shop at 46 Main Street.
Kathy, when asked how she prepares for Valentine’s Day, said, “Years of practice. Each year gets easier. I can remember crying the first few years. It is a lot of hours and a lot of work. In addition to making the arrangements, I am answering the phone, monitoring the deliveries, answering questions and helping/saying hi to everyone who comes in. We started putting out food for the customers as I truly believe that no one will be upset to wait a few minutes if you give them something to eat. I have so many regular customers that it is also fun to see them.”
Kathy has had The Flower Pot now for 25 years. “I had worked in restaurants my whole life and became burned out and needed a change,” Kathy said. “Back then my ex sister in law had bought what was known as Stewart’s Florist (located where I am) and I went to work for her. A few years later under a different owner it was put up for sale and I figured, why not? I knew it had potential if I worked hard, renamed it and so it began
“Throughout the years, I was offered opportunities to move my shop to a different town. I just could not do it. Maynard has become my home. I love everything about it. Twelve years ago my daughter and I moved to town. She went through all 12 years of school here in town. After 25 years, I have seen and shared so much with my customers and the town. I have celebrated and grieved with people. I have done weddings for kids I watched grow up. When you become part of this community, you get totally sucked in. There is nowhere else I could imagine having my shop,” Kathy said.
Valentine’s Day will be here before you know it, so don’t forget to plan ahead like Kathy is doing!
Downtown Maynard Chosen as Expansion Site for Western Mass Furniture Retailer
In late spring, Northampton, MA based Fly By Night Furniture plans to open a full-service furniture retail location on Nason Street in Maynard. The former Paper Store Building will become a two level, 12,000 square foot showroom featuring quality home furnishings designed and scaled specifically for New England homes.
Fly By Night founder Richard Zafft chose Maynard for its historic downtown. His goal is to replicate the success they have had with their downtown location in Northampton. Over the past 35 years, Fly By Night has grown from a “van and a vending permit” to a 24,000 square foot retail location supported by a 20,000 square foot warehouse from which they serve central and western Massachusetts.
Fly By Night specializes in US and European made upholstery, sleepers, and natural mattresses. They also design and build their own solid cherry furniture.
According to Zafft, “Historic downtowns have an ambience you don’t get at a mall or strip-mall. Downtown Maynard is hot. It has all the great little restaurants, cannabis dispensaries and its own beer brewery. These are great incentives for our furniture shoppers.”
Check out their website at flybynight.com for a preview of what’s coming to downtown Maynard.
Town Hall
Subscribe to Updates from the Town of Maynard
Source: Maynard Town Hall
Stay informed about board meetings and announcements from the Town of Maynard.
The official web site for the Town of Maynard (townofmaynard-ma.gov) provides free features to keep you updated on board and committee meetings and other announcements.
How to Sign Up: On the main page, click “Notify Me” (indicated by a bell icon). You will be taken to a list of Town boards, committees, departments, and other sources of information. At the top of this list, click “Notify Me Sign In”. If you have already created an account on the Town web site you may sign in; if not, create an account or connect a Facebook account. Once you are signed in, you can return to “Notify Me” from the main page if you were not automatically redirected.
Click the envelope icon to the left of any item to subscribe to e-mail updates from that board or department. You may also click the cell phone icon to subscribe to SMS-based text alerts sent to your phone.
All updates originate from Town boards, committees, and offices, and are reliable sources of public information. Below is a closer look at each section:
Agenda Center: Boards and committees are required to post agendas for their public meetings at least 48 hours in advance. Sign up for updates in the Agenda Center section to receive a link to the upcoming meeting agenda PDF as soon as it is posted.
Alert Center: Enroll in Notify Me on the Alert Center section to receive time-sensitive public advisory updates from DPW, Police, Fire, the Town Administrator’s office, and the Clerk’s office. Examples of past alerts include information about Town office closures; water supply issues; heating/cooling center locations during extreme weather events.
Bid Postings: Any projects subject to RFP (Request for Proposals) will be announced via Bid Postings, with links to the full information package.
Calendar: Subscribing to the Calendar section provides updates on board and committee meeting times and cancellations.
News Flash: The News Flash section includes a wide variety of news from Town departments. These items include election results; invitations to participate in public comment periods; voting registration deadlines; event announcements such as flu clinics or hazardous waste disposal days; Town boards or committees seeking new members; and information about how to obtain parking permits and other licenses.
Annual Operating Budget development for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 is in full swing!
Source: Bob McCarthy, TA Website, Town Website and Board Docs Website
This time period provides voters an opportunity to access our town budget in the planning stage and to have our voices heard about our operating budget prior to town meeting voting.
Some excerpts from Town Administrator (TA) website January 7, 2025 and October 1st 2024 reports:
https://www.townofmaynard-ma.gov/439/Town-Administrators-Office
- TA Johnson continues to work in development of his recommended Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) which begins July 1, 2025.
- General Fund budget is recommended each year at this time for the Select Board’s consideration. He is supporting the Capital Planning Committee (CapCom) development of their recommended Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) as well.
- The TA Office hosted an Insurance Advisory Committee meeting on Tuesday, September 24, 2024, at which the town’s unions representatives received an overview from Blue Cross Blue Shield as to projected cost increases based on current and trending loss-ratios. That insight is considered when developing the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) general fund budget that includes benefits for all subscribing town employees, including school department employees (Author Note: this is the second largest budget category of the town’s budget).
- For the Annual Town Meeting scheduled for May 19, 2025, “placeholder” (conceptual, rough draft) articles due to the TA Office via Greg Wilson by February 14, 2025, and fully drafted articles are due February 28, 2025.
You can find current FY 2026 budget information on boarddocs here.
In the top right corner, click Select Board and you can see all documents posted from past meetings in the agenda pulldown. The January 7, 2025 Select Board Agenda item 7A shows four attached files with current updated data and background being provided to stakeholder groups/committees. Or view and download the files below.
What to expect next on the budget development
From the Town Financial Policy Manual published on the Select Board website department page, some upcoming FY 2026 budget calendar overview and milestones: https://www.townofmaynard-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/958/Financial-Policy-Manual-PDF
The Government Finance Officers Association considers it of the greatest importance for an explanation to be included as a part of the legislative discussion (town meeting), explaining the key issues of importance included in the budget document. It is equally important to distribute this information to the general public to give them a greater understanding of the issues confronting the community.
Annual Joint Committee Budget review on Saturday Feb 8th, 2025 (Location TBA)
The Select Board shall adopt a Capital Improvement Plan for the next fiscal year, no later than the second Saturday in March.
The Select Board will review the Town Administrator’s proposed Annual Budget and formally approve a final proposal of the Annual Budget to the Town Meeting, no later than the second Saturday in April of each year.
The Select Board, School Committee, and Finance Committee will make every effort to reconcile any differences that may exist between their recommendations.
The Select Board, per the Town By-Law, shall present its recommended Annual Budget to the Town Meeting (in May).
The Select Board ’s budget proposal shall provide a complete financial plan of all general and enterprise funds and activities for the ensuing fiscal year, and accompanying budget message, and supporting documents.
The budget message from the Select Board shall explain the proposed budget for all Town agencies in fiscal terms and in terms of work programs. It shall outline the proposed financial policies for the Town for the ensuing fiscal year, describe the important features of the budget, indicate any major differences from the current fiscal year in financial policies, expenditures, and revenues, together with the reason(s) for such changes, summarize the Town’s debt position, and include such other material as the Board deems desirable or the Finance Committee and Town Meeting may reasonably require. The Finance Committee, representing the Town Meeting, shall hold at least one public hearing to discuss both operating and capital budget proposals.
Community Voices
Green Maynard: A Focus on the Environmental and Health Impacts of Plastic
by Abbie Barrett
Green Maynard is a volunteer-led community group that aims to protect, preserve, and celebrate our connection to the natural environment. To learn more, visit Green Maynard at greenmaynard.org or on Facebook and Instagram. In this second part of its series on waste reduction, Green Maynard shares more on composting.
Plastic is widely used for its durability, flexibility, and low cost, but excessive production and disposal have sparked a global pollution crisis. Most single-use plastics end up in landfills, incinerators (Maynard’s trash goes to an incinerator in Millbury), or in the environment, where they persist for hundreds of years, harming ecosystems on land and in waterways. Massachusetts alone disposed of 900,000 tons of plastic waste in 2022! Plastic production relies on fossil fuels, contributing significantly to the climate crisis, and with a growing body of evidence showing plastic’s harmful effects on human health, finding ways to reduce it is urgent work.
In 2021, residents in Maynard voted overwhelmingly to pass two bylaws to eliminate the use of single-use plastic checkout bags and to prohibit the use and distribution of expanded and clear or rigid polystyrene in food service ware and packaging material. Proposed by Green Maynard, the bylaws aim to reduce plastic pollution in the town of Maynard and minimize its associated environmental and health harms (more on that below).
Why Can’t We Just Recycle It? While recycling is better than throwing plastic in the trash, it still consumes energy (and often water) to collect, transport, and process the collected plastic to manufacture a new product. In many cases, manufacturers still need to add new raw material.
And just because a plastic item has a number on it doesn’t mean it’s recyclable. (The number within the chasing arrows just identifies the type of plastic.) Also, while many things, in theory, could be recycled—meaning that we know how to do it and have the technology to do so—it’s often too expensive or too difficult to dismantle the various materials that make up a particular item, such as plastic-coated paper coffee cups.
Some plastic simply doesn’t make it to the recycling bin because people don’t know it can be recycled or don’t know where it’s collected (plastic bags, for instance, can’t go in curbside bins, but many grocery stores collect them). And sometimes the item is just too dirty to recycle.
Any plastic that makes it past these hurdles is considered highly recyclable. Plastics #1, #2, #4 (polyethylene) and #5 (polypropylene) are among these, but still, they can only be recycled a limited number of times before the material degrades and becomes unusable.
Then there’s unrecyclable plastic, which includes #6 (polystyrene) and #3 (polyvinyl chloride or PVC). There’s really no life for these plastics beyond their original use.
Note: Be wary of “bioplastics” that claim to “degrade faster in the environment,” “are made from safer materials,” and/or “have smaller climate change impacts.” There are no federal standards defining or regulating these terms, so companies have free rein to label whatever they want as “biodegradable” and “compostable.”
Why is plastic so harmful? As plastic products break down over time, they create microplastics, tiny plastic bits that have been found in human placenta, lungs, intestine, liver, spleen, veins, breast milk, testes, and the heart. More recently, a study found plastic in the brain. Microplastics have been linked to heart attack, stroke, and death.
There are more than 16,000 chemical additives used in plastic, nearly a quarter of which is hazardous and half of which has no safety data. Many plastics contain a host of hazardous endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Because these chemicals are not bonded to the plastic molecule, they leach out at every stage of plastics’ use and lifecycle—including as food packaging. Mounting evidence shows that EDCs affect the hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism, causing obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
But the consequences of EDCs land most heavily on the very young, because children have an increased metabolic rate and are still laying down developmental pathways. In the early weeks of pregnancy, hormones guide everything—we have no other system—so tiny doses of EDCs can affect development in many ways, including disrupting brain development.
How can we reduce plastic? Enacting and enforcing policies that reduce plastic production and consumption—such as the bylaws passed in Maynard in 2021—can help. This includes advocating and voting for laws that ban or restrict single-use plastics, impose producer responsibility for plastic waste, and/or encourage the use of alternative materials.
On an individual level, opt for reusable metal straws, coffee mugs, food containers, cloth bags, and glass or stainless-steel bottles. Support businesses and restaurants that prioritize truly sustainable packaging solutions. Consider shopping at stores that offer bulk options and bring your reusable containers. And when you do need to purchase something in plastic, recycle it properly. To learn more, visit Beyond Plastics.
Events
2nd Annual Maynard Winter Celebration
Saturday, January 18th, Memorial Park
The Maynard Cultural District and the Maynard Business Alliance invite you to join us for the 2nd Annual Maynard Winter Celebration! Enjoy winter-themed activities, including a live ice carving demonstration and more in Veterans Memorial Park (corner of Nason St. and Summer St.) and at other locations in Maynard’s vibrant Cultural District!
- 1:30pm FREE Special Showing of ‘Happy Feet’ at Maynard Fine Arts Theatre (1 hour 48 minutes) Proudly Sponsored by Smith & Finley Homes (RSVP by 1/17/25 here)
- 2:00pm – 4:00pm Ice Sculpture Demonstration at Memorial Park
- 3:00-3:45pm Storytime with Mr. Mark at the Maynard Public Library
- 4:30- 5pm (Festival Celebration and Closing Remarks)
Our Partners:
- Amory’s Tomb
- El Huipil
- Family Deli
- Maynard Public Library
- Smith & Finley Homes
- and more!
2nd Annual Economic Development Awards Brunch
Economic Development Committee will be hosting its 2nd Annual Economic Development Awards Brunch on Sunday, March 23rd at the Sanctuary Cultural Arts Canter from 10 am to 1 pm
Last years’ recipients will be presenting this years’ winners in the following categories.
- Most Philanthropic – the award recognizes the individual/company that has been the most generous in donating time/money/other to the community
- Distinguished Service Award – the award honors the individual or organizations that have demonstrated exceptional commitment to the community and volunteerism
- Nonprofit of the Year – Nonprofit that has provided the greatest benefit to the business community in Maynard within the last year
- Rising Star – Successful businesses that have been in operation for less than 5 years
- Business/Entrepreneur of the Year – Recognizing outstanding businesses for their innovation, growth, spirit and positive impact on the community
Representatives from the town, the Chamber of Commerce, MBA and the community at large will be present to network and enjoy a delicious brunch with the last year and this years’ recipients. This year we plan on having a special guest speaker.
This event was designed to recognize those that have had an impact on the growth of Maynard’s economy and create a welcoming economic environment.
Education & Library
Green Meadow School Asbestos Abatement Update
Source: Superintendent’s Message
Last weekend (the) abatement work began. The scope of work related to the water/heating leak includes removing asbestos-containing joint compound and sheetrock at select locations… Green Meadow School asbestos abatement update headlines January 14 Superintendent’s Message
The project will be performed by isolating the ACM (Asbestos Containing Material) abatement work areas from non-ACM abatement work areas by erecting enclosures covered with two layers of polyethylene sheeting inside the ACM abatement work area and installing negative air machines to put the ACM abatement work area under negative pressure. As a reminder, all asbestos abatement activities will continue to be performed by an experienced, Massachusetts-licensed contractor under the complete supervision of Massachusetts-licensed project monitors in accordance with DEP/DLS regulations.
Continuous air sampling will be performed by the monitor during and after any asbestos abatement activity to establish airborne ambient levels inside and outside the ACM abatement work area and ensure that airborne fibers are within EPA limits.
After the initial ACM abatement work visual inspections and clearance air samples were performed at the work area. No asbestos was detected in the samples
The project monitor will analyze the samples to ensure acceptable conditions.
More information here
Around Town
Collaboration between Acton EDC and Maynard EDC
by Armand Diarbekirian
On Thursday December 19th Armand Diarbekirian, Chair of Economic Development Committee met with Patricia Sutherland Co-chair of the Acton Economic Development Committee and Bob Jarboe, member of the Acton Finance Committee and liaison to the Acton Economic Development Committee.at the Boston Bean.
The objective of the meeting was to see how we can collaborate in working together on the development of the Powder Mill Corridor. It was also an opportunity to share what’s happening in each of our towns. By the end of the meeting we agreed to meet on a quarterly basis going forward. They also shared that they are in the midst of working on a Strategic Economic Development Plan. Looking forward to developing a symbiotic relationship.
The History of Digital Equipment Corporation
Source: Maynard Historical Commission
If you missed the amazing presentation on DEC last Saturday, here’s your chance to see it! In partnership with the Maynard Public Library, the Historical Commission was proud to present David Mark’s History of Digital Equipment Corporation.
For those not familiar with DEC, the company was founded in 1957 by Ken Olson and Harlan Anderson, engineers who had worked on very early machines at MIT. They began by building small circuit modules for laboratory use and, in 1961, released their first computer, the PDP-1. During the 1960s, they produced a variety of machines, mainly aimed at the laboratory market and scientific computing market with 36-bit machines and had a very successful timesharing computer known as the PDP-10.
David Mark’s presentation takes us through the history of DEC as it relates to Maynard and the Mill. It was an integral part of our community and has left a significant impact on all who worked for the organization.
Thanks to our friends at WAVM we can share the recording of presentation below:
To learn even more about DEC, visit DEC Connection, the networking organization of former DEC employees, you should also check out their website. There is a wealth of information about company history, stories from employees, videos, and much more.
And as usual, for a fantastic collection of all things DEC, check out the Maynard Historical Society’s online collection here.
Love reading the Maynard Advantage – closest thing to a local newspaper that I’ve seen! Thank you!