Watertown Group Heading to Mother’s Day Walk for Peace for 10th Straight Years

The following announcement was provided by Watertown Walks for Peace:

Please join Watertown Walks for Peace on Sunday, May 12th for our TENTH consecutive year supporting the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute and its services to families and communities affected by gun violence. This is our tenth consecutive year participating in the Mother’s Day Walk for Peace in Dorchester. It was founded by Chaplain Clementina Chery, the mother of Louis D. Brown, who was killed by random gunfire in 1993. The Peace Institute is a leader as a center for healing and teaching. Visit our webpage to sign up to walk and/or donate to help achieve our fundraising goal of $5,000.

Come Meet the Artists Behind the New Pieces in Watertown’s Sculpture Walk

Photo by Liz Helfer”All Style, No Substance” by Ken Reker is one of the new additions to the Watertown Community Sculpture Walk. Watertown’s Community Sculpture Walk has four new works of art, and the public is invited to meet the artists and find out about their process and inspiration. The opening reception for the new sculptures will be held on Friday, May 10 from 5-6 p.m. The tour begins at the beginning of the Community Path in Saltonstall Park (behind City Hall). Three of the artists will attend the opening, and one provided some audio of his poems to share at the event, said Liz Helfer, Watertown’s Public Arts & Culture Planner. Also attending the event will be Zachariah Hickman — the Tuba Guy.

New Book Looks at Triple Murder in Waltham, and Ties to Marathon Bombing & Watertown

A triple murder in Waltham in 2011, just half a mile from the Watertown line, has ties to the Boston Marathon Bombing, and to Watertown, author Susan Clare Zalkind discovered. The Newton resident began to follow the investigation, and has produced stories about the murders and the investigation — which remain open to this day — for Boston magazine and NPR’s This American Life, and wrote and produced the 2022 Hulu docuseries The Murders Before the Marathon. She also covered the Boston Marathon Bomber trial for the Daily Beast. In March, her book “The Waltham Murders: One Woman’s Pursuit to Expose the Truth and a National Tragedy” was published by Little A.

Zalkind has a personal connection to one of the victims. She was working for NECN when a story came across the wire about three dead bodies being found in Waltham. She later found out one of those people was her friend, Erik Weissman, who she met when she was 19. “I knew one of the victims, I liked one of the victims, but that’s not why I spent 11 years of my life devoted to this story,” Zalkind told Watertown News.

LETTER: Resident Optimistic About Future of Watertown Square

When the conversation about Watertown Square began a couple years ago, I was not optimistic. How could this massive intersection filled with car traffic become a destination? While I was reminded of our wonderful library, our distance from the river, and a few small stores and great restaurants, I still could not imagine how this could be made into a unified square. Over time, the process for recreating Watertown Square has impressed me. We have had multiple ways to participate and give feedback.

Group from Watertown Food Pantry Joining Walk for Hunger

The following announcement was provided by Project Bread:

On May 5, the Watertown Food Pantry will be among over 3,500 participants to lace up for Project Bread’s 56th annual Walk for Hunger. For the fourth consecutive year, the Watertown based nonprofit will raise money to support statewide food security through the Commonwealth Program. The Commonwealth gives organizations addressing food insecurity 60 percent of all funds they raise to support their own hunger relief programs, with the remaining 40 percent applied to Project Bread’s statewide food security effort. To date, Project Bread has awarded over $12,550 to the Watertown Food Pantry. Beginning in 1969, as the first pledge walk in the nation, Project Bread’s Walk for Hunger brings together a diverse community dedicated to creating change.

WATERTOWN WEEKEND FUN: Celebrate Bike Month, Historic House Talk, Volunteer Projects, Tamales & a Dance Performance

This is a weekend for spring cleaning, so let’s get our hands dirty! You can bring your dusty bike out of the basement and get it ready to enjoy all the new bike lanes around or help to clean up our green spaces through Watertown Helps Out. If you’re a New England history buff, you will enjoy the Watertown Historical Society talk about restoring a 300 year-old home. Then head home and work on your own, glad that it’s only 100 years old or so. Hungry after all that work?