Local companies highlighted in Newton, MA.
Come by to see the lovely gifts and unique tabletop selections at Pine Straw. This new boutique is the 2nd outpost; the first shop is in Wellesley.
If you need a place to host an author’s event or a fundraising event, consider Pine Straw. She will even donate a percentage of sales for non-profit fundraising events.
The store is beautifully merchandised with a wide selection of items, many locally sourced.
www.newtontennis.com while space lasts.
Sharon Schindler of Sharon Schindler Photography was selected in a rigorous competition to participate in the award-winning Paradise City Arts Festival, March 18-20, 2016, at the Royal Plaza Trade Center in Marlborough, MA.
Thousands of images were reviewed last September, with just 175 artists from 23 states and Canada selected for this prestigious show. The applicants’ work was judged on the basis of imagination, technical excellence, design and originality. Sharon Schindler is in very good company, since works by many of the exhibiting artists are featured in major collections, museums, and publications around the world.
For its 19th year, Paradise City presents a curated selection of outstanding North American craft makers and artists at Metro Boston’s most acclaimed show of fine and functional art. The Royal Plaza Trade Center, an intimate exhibition hall in Boston’s western suburbs, is transformed each March into a dazzling collection of vibrant one-of-a-kind furniture, home furnishings, fashion, jewelry, paintings and sculpture.
The Boston Globe called Paradise City “An Art Lover’s Heaven.” Upon naming this event a Top 10 Art and Craft Fair in America AmericanStyle Magazine wrote, “Treats for the eye and the ear greet visitors at Paradise City Marlborough… this show allows artists to ‘think outside the box’ and presents work that you won’t find anywhere else.”
The venue is easily accessible from all parts of New England and features acres of free parking and a shuttle bus to and from the parking lots for those carrying heavy packages. Delicious food, beverages and desserts are available at the event.
“American Beauty: from Landscape to Dreamscape” and more…
The seasonal themed exhibitions at the Paradise City Arts Festival Have inspired artists and intrigued patrons for many years. In “American Beauty: from Landscape to Dreamscape”, Paradise City artists and makers offer fresh interpretations of the landscapes that surround them. Using paint, clay, metal, glass, fiber and wood, they weave together a visual panorama of America’s great outdoor spaces.
Live jazz entertains attendees every day in the sunlit Sculpture Café, and wafts through the exhibition hall. Paradise City presents the JD Jazz Trio’s blazing bass, keyboards and drums on Friday afternoon. Paradise Jazz Trio plays New Orleans-style two and four-square pre-swing jazz on Saturday. The fabulous O-Tones get you dancing in the aisles to swing and Motown, with bass, guitar, drums and three-part harmony on Sunday. The Marlborough Public Schools Music Association offers a coat and package check at the door. All donations benefit instrumental, vocal and dance programs in the public schools.
Fast Facts
What: Paradise City Arts Festival
175 juried artists from 23 states exhibiting original works in art glass, ceramics, painting, decorative fiber, fine furniture, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed media, photography, large-scale sculpture, wearable art and wood. With live music, special exhibits and delightful dining.
Where:
The Royal Plaza Trade Center, 181 Boston Post Road West (Route 20W), Marlborough, MA.
Just 5 minutes north of the intersection of Mass Pike (I-90) and I-495, Marlborough is only 30 minutes from downtown Boston, and an easy drive from NH, RI, CT, ME and points west.
From all points, take 495 to exit 24B (Route 20 West). The Royal Plaza Trade Center is one mile on the right.
When:
Friday, March 18: 10am-5pm
Saturday, March 19: 10am-6pm
Sunday, March 20: 11am-5pm
Admission: $13 adults; $12 over 65; $8 students; $16 Weekend Pass; children 12 and under admitted free; handicapped accessible; free color program with admission; acres of free parking!
Brookline Liquor Mart, a fourth-generation, family owned business with roots in Boston for over 80 years, opens a new location at The Street today. Located next to Rosie’s Bakery, Brookline Liquor Mart (BLM) carries a robust selection of fine wines and craft beers and is a welcome addition to The Street’s collection of 43 shops and restaurants, 18 of which are also locally owned.www.thestreetchestnuthill.com
BLM’s shop at The Street joins its Allston store and marks its second location in Massachusetts. It spans over 1,300 square feet and carries over 800 different types of wine and 250 different types of beer.
As the region’s preeminent source of fine wine and rare items, BLM prides itself in offering guests an approachable and friendly neighborhood store. It is also renowned for its dynamic events, ranging from weekly tastings, beginning in the next few weeks, to large-scale events.
Brookline Liquor Mart is located at 7 Boylston Street at The Street in Chestnut Hill. Its hours of operation are 10:00 am to 10:00 pm Monday through Saturday and 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm Sunday. Phone: 617-734-7702
Artemis Yoga is very pleased be a part of the Watertown Recreation
Department’s initiative to offer a variety of wellness programs across
age groups.
They are offering two new yoga classes for youth on Mondays
and a Tuesday morning gentle yoga class for adults over 55.
Register at Watertown Recreation Online Payments for both classes
Yoga for Youth – Monday Evenings – March 7th to April 11th.
Only $40 for the six week series!
Time: Grades 3 – 5: 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Time: Grades 6 – 8: 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Gentle Yoga – Over 55 – Tuesday Mornings – March 8th to April 12th.
Only $50 for the six week series!
Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
All classes held at the brand new Artemis Yoga at 639 Mt. Auburn
Street in Watertown, MA.
Class Details
Yoga for Youth –
Everyone can practice yoga – no particular fitness level or experience
required! This class will help you to build strength of body and mind
in a supportive, fun environment. You will learn poses to build your
agility, strength and flexibility. You will apply healthy techniques
to relax and calm the mind. Class will end with a relaxation period so
you can unwind. Come to class and have fun! These classes are taught
by experienced educators and yoga instructors, Amy Hrobak and JoAnne
Kazis.
Gentle Yoga – Over 55
This class, which centers on relaxation and coordinating breath with
movement, promises to be gentle. It can be done sitting in a chair or
standing, and will accommodate those who use walkers and canes, have
limited flexibility and vision, or have never tried yoga before.
Participants should wear only loose-fitting clothing. Classes are
designed for any body and all levels of experience, with a focus on
alignment and safety. This class is taught by Ann Knocke:
cardiopulmonary physical therapy clinical specialist and certified
Kripalu Yoga, Cardiac Yoga and Cancer Yoga teacher.
“Shaboom!,”an animated web series premiering this spring from non-profit G-dcast, combines the best elements of children’s television with wisdom from the Jewish tradition to teach everyday values to children through magic, comedy and silly songs. Each of the ten children’s episodes is accompanied by a separate video for parents that delves into the episode’s value, explaining “what’s Jewish” about it, and giving parents the knowledge and confidence to model the values for their children.
Each episode of Shaboom! features the “magical sparks” Gabi & Rafael who work to fix the world, while focusing on that episode’s theme. After episode one, other themes include Gratitude, Honor or Respect, Taking Care of Nature, and Courage of the Heart, among others.
Shaboom! additionally builds vocabulary for parents and children around the concepts, in both English and Hebrew. The producers formally tested this idea on target audience members and found that parents, regardless of their religious or cultural background, strongly favored a show that taught words from another language and that featured a diverse cast of characters.
Plato’s Closet Waltham is now Open to Buy!
We buy and sell gently used clothing and accessories for teens and young adults: girls and guys. We pay cash on the spot for on-trend items, and you don’t need an appointment to sell to us. We buy all seasons, year-round!
We are currently Open to Buy. Once our racks are filled with great items, we will open to both buy and sell. We would love to meet new customers in the store!
Our hours are 10-9 Mon-Sat and 12-5 Sun.
Our store is in the Ocean State Job Lot plaza at 100 River Street in Waltham: just a few blocks from Launch, BJs and Russo’s!
Please check us out at our website or on Facebook for more information and/or to join our mailing list.
Merger between FC Bolts and Boston Breakers Academy/Scorpions was to combine two clubs that had an academy program for boys and girls. Less than six months after the merger, Breakers Academy announced that they are dropping the Scorpions and replacing them with NEFC.
Why did Boston Breakers drop the Scorpions?
Today, the Boston Breakers announce the dissolving of the youth club partnership between Scorpions Soccer Club (now FC Boston) and Boston Breakers Academy.
“It is unfortunate that the partnership is being dissolved,” Boston Breakers general manager Lee Billiard said. “We had high hopes, but the merger of Scorpions and FC Bolts and their creation of FC Boston set them on a different path.”
The partnership was originally formed in December 2013 with a purpose to expand the previous club’s footprint and ultimately led to the insertion of new coaches and additional players.
The partnership will be terminated by the end of 2015. All current Boston Breakers Academy teams under the Scorpions/FC Boston umbrella will transition out of using the Boston Breakers name and logo by the end of the year as well. The Boston Breakers will continue to operate its own college academy and reserve teams as part of the development pathway to the pros.
This is what the Boston Breakers relationship gave the Scorpions:
In the first year of the partnership, Boston Breakers General Manager Lee Billiard will coach the Boston Breakers Academy U17 ECNL team, while Boston Breakers Academy Director Jack Abelson will coach the U15 ECNL team, and Breakers Senior Team Coordinator Stephanie Schafer (Curry College and Wagner College) will take the U17 NPL team. Boston Breakers Head Coach Lisa Cole will play a vital role for the Boston Breakers Academy as Technical Director. The role of Technical Director will be to provide coach and player education for the program, along with helping to build curriculum content, a sound developmental pathway for players, coaches and also holding some guest sessions across the season.
As the partnership grows, Boston Breakers players will also be a part of the staff, coaching teams at all levels. During the first year of transition, the Boston Breakers professional players will take part in club trainings and camps. Six Boston Breakers professional players will serve as age group mentors to the girls teams. The role will be to see every team and have direct contact with players in the specific age group they are mentoring. Additionally, the Breakers players will attend tryouts to help the staff evaluate players, and over the course of the season, host educational classes with Breakers Academy players in regards to being a student athlete, nutrition, fitness, becoming a pro player, and to give advice on the college recruitment process.
The Scorpions Soccer Club front office staff will remain intact and will work closely with Boston Breakers front office staff to provide families an even greater level of communication and players a very structured development pathway, which starts at U9 and leads though Under 18, to Breakers College Academy, Reserve Team, and ending at the Senior professional team.
It appears that the merger that was supposed to combine both a girls and boys academy program was the reason for Boston Breakers dropping the Scorpions for NEFC. Or it could be the Boston Breakers relationship with Fred Marks?
Breakers Partnership with NEFC
Why are NEFC and the Boston Breakers creating this partnership?
The Boston Breakers are a member of the NWSL, a ten team professional women’s soccer league supported by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). As with most professional soccer clubs in the US, a priority for the Boston Breakers is to have a competitive youth academy structure that supports the college, reserve and professional teams. NEFC has a proven developmental model and a competitive team structure that competes on the national stage. The synergies created by this partnership provide a nationally competitive youth academy under the Breakers organization which also supports NEFC’s mission statement of ‘Developing Players for the Next Level in an Elite Soccer Environment’. This partnership will provide players with the best environment to take advantage of future opportunities as the youth soccer landscape continues to evolve.
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Dear FC Boston Families:
Last summer, FC Greater Boston Bolts and the Boston Breakers Academy/Scorpions agreed to join forces to create the only youth soccer club in the Northeast with both the Development Academy on the boy’s side and the ECNL on the girl’s side. Our long-term goal is to create a super club that can take a player from junior academy (age 8) and develop them all the way until college. We offer programs spanning from junior academy, NEP, NPL and Academy/ECNL levels. The goal is to be the most complete club in the Northeast with the best coaching staff.
Whenever two clubs merge together, there are bound to be growing pains as joining two synergies takes time to blend into one. One hurdle we faced was what to call our new super club which has now been decided. The overall club will be known as FC Boston with the boys being FC Boston Bolts and the girls being FC Boston Scorpions. The Bolts is one of the most recognized brands of youth soccer in the US under the direction of Brian Ainscough. Similarly, Scorpions was the original name of the club that Fred Marks built from the ground up. Over the years it was one of the most recognized names in girls soccer, which is why the board chose to resurrect the name and restore it to its rightful place in girls soccer. We have a new logo and we will debut our new uniforms in early summer.
Our focus will now be on merging and improving our operations as well as using the combined forces of the two clubs to secure and improve our facilities. It is a top priority to secure and retain the best coaches for our players and ensure the best path for development in youth soccer in this area.
On the operations side, we are working to create an organization that is highly proficient and seamlessly delivers good communications to our families. We value our players and their families and will strive to create a great experience for all.
We appreciate your patience and loyalty while we work through this process and look forward to great things in the future for FC Boston!
Sincerely,
Jonathan Price
President
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Jonathan Price fails to address that the ECNL league is likely to be moved to a lower division.
US Soccer Federation to launch a girls’ equivalent of Development Academy. ECNL likely pushed to 2nd tier.
What will be the result of FC Scorpions losing Breakers Academy and ECNL pushed to 2nd tier? Rumor has it that top players are looking to switch clubs. A division 1 women’s college soccer coach summed it up: “It’s the end of an era. The Scorpions are done!”
From Janet Chitty, wife of Mark Chitty, principal of Peirce Elementary School in Newton pens an article on life lesson learned from her son. This is from Boston Parents Paper.
Valeo Families,
Kia McNeill the girls director at Valeo FC was recently offered the women’s head coaching position at Brown University. It was a difficult decision for Kia to make, but in order to pursue an amazing opportunity, Kia has decided to step down from her position.
Kia made a positive impact on the lives of many young athletes during her time here at Valeo.
We are excited for Kia’s new opportunity at Brown University and want to wish her all the best.
She will still have a reduced role here at Valeo and continue to be a part of the Valeo family.
Here at Valeo, our mission is focused on developing competitive athletes, outstanding citizens and strong leaders. We provide a challenging and rewarding environment that teaches the virtues of teamwork, discipline, hard work, commitment, respect and leadership.
After significant consideration, we would like to announce the promotion of Brian Leighton as Valeo’s girls director. Brian has been part of the Valeo family for two seasons coaching the
GU10, GU11, GU12 and GU15 teams. Brian brings an abundance of experience both from a managerial and soccer standpoint.
Brian spent his college career as the starting goalkeeper for the Mount Ida Mustangs. He also played in the NPSL Division 1 for the Maine Sting. Brian has coached at various clubs throughout Greater Boston and is currently the men’s assistant coach at MIT.
Brian has a Master’s of Science in Management degree and is an avid entrepreneur. Brian is excited to carry on the Valeo tradition that focuses on player development in his role as the new girls director.
Please join us in welcoming Brian as the new girls director! Feel free to contact Brian at
Brian@valeofc.com with any questions or comments.
