Marblehead Festival of Arts Champagne & Culinary Arts Reception

No Comments » Written on May 8th, 2012 by
Categories: Events

It’s almost summer! Festival announcements are trickling into my email and RSS feed. Here is one about the kickoff to the popular Marblehead Festival of Arts on June 24th!

Marblehead Festival of Arts Champagne & Culinary Arts Reception

Marblehead MA (May 4, 2012) – The Marblehead Festival of Arts Annual Champagne & Culinary Arts Reception will be held Sunday, June 24, from 5 to 7 pm, under a tent at Fort Sewall, overlooking beautiful Marblehead Harbor. The Reception heralds the opening of the Marblehead Festival of Arts, which will be held June 30-July 4.

Event co-chairs Peter Jackson, Sandy McLaughlin and Lisa Hooper are busy lining up more than a dozen area restaurants which will showcase their menu specialties. Live music will be provided by Ned & The Big Babies, a soulful roots rock & punk band. Also featured is the annual Hat Contest where guests’ creations are rated in several categories.

The Champagne & Culinary Arts Reception is a fundraising event for the summer Arts Festival. Invitations will be available in advance at various Marblehead locations for $50 or on June 24 for $55. For additional information, please visit www.MarbleheadFestival.org.

 

About Marblehead Festival of Arts (MFoA)

Founded in 1962, the Marblehead Festival of Arts has a rich history in producing a premier summer arts festival that has become a unique forum for artistic expression. Traditionally held each year over the July 4th holiday, the Marblehead Festival of Arts hosts a wide range of art exhibits (painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, and others.), outdoor music concerts overlooking Marblehead Harbor, Writers’ World, the Street Festival, Artisans’ Marketplace, and many other cultural activities designed to provide a fun and enriching experience for the entire family.

The Marblehead Festival of Arts is run by an all-volunteer organization comprised of more than forty committees and involving several hundred volunteers. It operates year round and relies solely on donations to fund its operations. Individuals, families, and businesses may become Festival Sponsors by making a tax-deductible contribution. For additional information on MFoA, a calendar of events, volunteer opportunities and sponsorship, please call 781-639-ARTS or visit www.MarbleheadFestival.org.

Donuts Delight! Kane’s Donuts Is A North Shore Treasure

No Comments » Written on May 7th, 2012 by
Categories: Food

Saugus’s Kane’s Donuts is a North Shore institution. With donuts like this one, no wonder they have been in business for over fifty years.
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This is their Smores donut, a honey glazed ring topped with a rich chocolate icing and graham cracker bits and mini marshmallows. Other tricked out donuts include a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and caramel crunch.

They also have giant donuts with more traditional flavors, such as a vanilla frosted glazed packed with rainbow sprinkles and a coconut donut with so much coconut perfectly pressed on top that it puts any other bakery to shame.

Kane’s opens every morning at 4:30 am with a full compliment of donuts hot and ready to sell. They also serve fresh Green Mountain hot and iced coffee. If there is a line (which there often is), don’t fret – it moves very quickly.

Kane’s Donuts is located at 120 Lincoln Avenue in Saugus, MA.

Old School Dance School

No Comments » Written on November 19th, 2011 by
Categories: Events

Earlier this year, the Gene Murray Dance School on Essex Street in Salem closed its doors after 36 years of providing the area with some of the best training available. Murray taught dance for the love of dance – no recitals, costumes, picture days or competitions. Just tap and ballet so pure that dance teachers filled his classrooms to get their own technical pointers.

The school closed in June. Early this morning, I walked past the shuttered dance studio, which is currently listed for purchase by Sotherby’s. The sign has been damaged with some sort of blood or red paint, and the building is so silent. It’s downright sad.

The Salem News did a wistful story and video in May as Murray set to close his school. I wish I had gotten the chance to take at least a class there. Happy Retirement, Mr. Murray, and thanks to all you have done for the arts on the North Shore.

The Lyceum’s Transformation

No Comments » Written on August 14th, 2011 by
Categories: Food

This past Saturday was an amazing day to walk around Salem. The sun was shining over the Essex Street Fair, and the businesses were taking advantage of the Massachusetts Sales Tax holiday.

As I was enjoying the beautiful day, I noticed that the transformation of longtime Salem staple The Lyceum into a new steakhouse was well underway. I watched a crew replace the Lyceum’s plate cover style sign with series of new signs. The new steakhouse will be known as 43 Church.

 

You can read more about The Lyceum’s change on Boston Hidden’s Restaurants (one of my absolute favorite blogs.)

Let’s All Scream for Salem’s Ice Cream Bowl

No Comments » Written on August 9th, 2011 by
Categories: Events, Food

Salem is celebrating ice cream just in time for the most humid week of the summer.

On Tuesday, August 9th, Salem Main Streets is sponsoring the Salem Ice Cream Bowl (formerly known as the Salem Scooper Bowl) from 6 – 7:30p.m. The Salem Common will be host eight local ice cream stores sampling their many flavors. Included on that list is my personal favorite (more a chain than local score, but we’ll live) Rita’s Italian Ice, and the historic E.W. Hobb’s ice cream from the Salem Willows.

Rita’s has great Italian ice, but I especially love their sugar free and low fat varieties that taste super close to the originals. Get a low fat custard and sugar free ice mix, and you get all the taste without the calories. E.W. Hobb’s ice cream is hand-made and full of flavor. Its hand-made quality is evident in the gentle ice crystals evident throughout the ice cream’s texture. E.W. Hobb’s has been a Salem Willows institution since 1897, and was one of the first places on the North Shore of Massachusetts where one could buy an ice cream cone in 1906. If you like coconut, you absolutely have to try their coconut chip ice cream.

Admission to the Salem Ice Cream Bowl is $5 for adults and $3 for children. The admission price is definitely worth it when you consider how much a dish of ice cream is going these days. Even if you can’t make it Tuesday night, consider visiting Rita’s or E.W. Hobb’s when you have the chance. Both are delicious ways to beat this summer’s oppressive heat.

Enjoy a Summer’s Night at the Ballpark

No Comments » Written on June 15th, 2011 by
Categories: Events

Photo: North Shore Navigators/Reba M. Saldanha

I have some groundbreaking news for you: there is baseball in Boston that is not the Boston Red Sox. Shocking, I know. And for us North Shore residents, some of it is right in our backyards.

The New England Collegiate Baseball League’s (NECBL) North Shore Navigators kick off their home schedule Thursday night at Fraser Field in Lynn, right off of Western Avenue. If you’ve heard of the Cape League, where college baseball players show their stuff during the summer, you already grasp the concept behind the NECBL and the Navigators. The NECBL is just another one of those summer leagues where up and comers can play the game they are passionate for throughout the summer, and get more time in front of pro scouts along the way. Read the rest of this entry »

Dad’s On A Boat!

No Comments » Written on June 13th, 2011 by
Categories: Events

What to get Dad for Father’s Day besides another polo shirt? I’ve found that getting Dad an experience, rather than a gift, is always an enjoyable surprise. Salem has two options to give your Dad the experience of cruising this Father’s Day. Read the rest of this entry »

Hair Style Help Needed in the North Shore

2 comments Written on May 27th, 2011 by
Categories: Style

VA Pro Hair 4When I lived in Allston, I had a Greek hair stylist named Frank who owned a struggling salon around the corner from my apartment. The shop was an old Dellaria location, and had not been renovated in some time. The salon was wall to ceiling white, but the years had faded it to a grayish yellow. Framed black and white prints of 80s hair styles hung on the walls. A thin layer of dust covered everything, and most of the salon chairs were empty. The only employees left at this salon were my Greek hair stylist, a Russian lady who only served the older Russian speaking ladies who lived nearby and were driven by their elderly husbands who would wait hours in the car for them to finish, and a surly Frenchman who always threatened to quit over the owner’s meddling in his lack of clients and hair style disrupting cigarette habit. Read the rest of this entry »

Why Woodman’s Is The Way

1 Comment » Written on May 9th, 2011 by
Categories: Food

My husband, the reason I now live on the North Shore, decided he wanted in on the blog action. Here is his in-depth exploration of one of his favorite North Shore spots and foods.

One of the staples of the North Shore are the many clam shacks. It seems like every city or town has their own variation on the traditional New England shack, and every one seems to have some unique claim to fame, from the “inventor of the fried clam” to the best french fries and onion rings. Perhaps the most recognized clam shack is Woodman’s of Essex, which boasts that its founder Lawrence “Chubby” Woodman invented the fried clam back in 1916. Whether this story is true or not (it all depends upon whom you ask), one thing is sure, when it comes to fried clams on the North Shore, Woodman’s is the standard-bearer. Read the rest of this entry »

Salem Willows’ Musical Monkeys

1 Comment » Written on May 8th, 2011 by
Categories: Uncategorized

One of my favorite things about moving up to Salem has been the Salem Willows. The Willows are a park with a boardwalk of sorts with an arcade and food stands by the water. Skeeball fanatic me now has a vast collection of machines very nearby, as the Willows boast quite a few in their multiple arcades.

But often lost within the arcades’ newer games like Deal or No Deal and Rock Band are a treasure trove of older arcade games still in working order. My personal favorite is the 10 cent “Musical Monkeys” machine, a group of mechanical monkeys “playing” instruments while accompanied by a record. I was by the Willows for a second on Saturday, and decided to archive this fun machine for everyone to see. Enjoy!

Musical Monkeys at the Salem Willows

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