THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, FEbrUAry 14, 2025 Page 11 Southern Essex Register of Deeds Announces January 2025 Revenue Up 79.72% S outhern Essex Register of Deeds, Eileen Duff, announced today that for the month of January 2025, the Registry brought in $3,333,948.08 in revenue. This represents a 79.72% increase above the revenue from January 2024, which brought in a total of $1,855,000.48. ASKS | FROM PAGE 10 something to the table that will attract visitors. But of all the people who will be displaying their talents and performing, who and what are the highlights? Accomplished artisans or musicians or singers or performers? Who are the Saugus people who will be stars in this event? A: We are very excited to have all our food vendors based in Saugus to highlight local business. Lucia Ingemi is 15 from Saugus and has trained extensively in ballet and jazz. Veronica Robles is also from Saugus and a cultural icon for Latinos in New England. https://veronicarobles.com/ Q: Any special guests or visitors that you expect? A: We have invited the Select Board, Town Members and Donald Wong, state representative, to attend. Q: What is the goal of this Festival? What do you hope to accomplish and build on, I assume for what you hope will be an annual event? A: We hope that this event becomes one of many new annual events that bring this Town together. We want to inspire other organizations and individuals to take on a dream that serves the community. Q: Do you feel that the lineup of participants reflects the best cultural aspects of the town? A: Saugus is a growing community with many different cultural backgrounds. We know that every group is not represented but hope that in future years we can expand on that and work with more “I am thrilled to see the revenue numbers after my first month in office. It is a reminder that the Registries are an important revenue source for the Commonwealth, and a testament to the hard work of the incredible team at the Southern Essex Registry of Deeds,” said Register Duff. The Registry processed 7,408 documents in the month of January, generating revenue through various taxes, fees and surcharges. The Registry is a resource for homeowners, title examiners, mortgage lenders, municipalities and others with a in the community to improve on representation. Q: How do you think this event will benefit the town? A: This event is a first for us and we hope people have fun, reconnect with a neighbor and leave making a new friend and learn something new about our community. Q: Do you have a logo? A: It’s a quilt of flags put together, connected to each other from the same cloth. Q: What’s the main thing you want to get across to the community about this upcoming festival? A: Our vision here is to spark or ignite inspiration for other people in the community to organize their own community-type events because we’d love for there to be more educational and engaging type programs happening in Saugus – that brings family, friends and residents together. Our goal is also to try to do this annually, and we hope this is something that will bring people of diversity in the community together. Q: What are your plans for future festivals? What will you do differently next year in the planning? What would be the ultimate cultural festival for Saugus? A: Next year I would like to host early community workshops to hear from residents their ideas for activities, performers and food vendors. I also want to work with more local businesses to have more diverse sponsors for the festival. Q: Anything else that you would like to share? A: The Boys & Girls Club of Saugus is going to have a need for secure, accurate, accessible land record information. All land record research information can be found on the Registry’s website SalemDeeds.com. The Southern Essex County Registry of Deeds recently moved to 100 Cummings Center, Suite 206-C in Beverly; loroom at the High School for special activities. They’re going to provide art-take-away projects for people. There’s going to be a gaming tournament set up as well. This room is going to be set up for people of all ages, not just kids. One of the activities they will be doing is stamps and button-making. We [the Cultural Council] did button-making at Founders Day. It’s a very opento-all-ages activity. There will also be a music mixing station, with sound equipment and instruments available. Q: This is a totally free event? A: Yes. Coming in is free. Watching the performances is free. The only thing that has a charge is the food vendors, but we’re trying to make it as low cost as possible, so all the food menu options will be under $15. We’ve also requested that the vendors provide a sample of things for people to try. Q: What are you most excited about, as you look at the festival? A: I’m excited to see the conclusion of all of the Cultural Council’s members’ efforts and everything that we’ve been working on. None of us have a background in organizing community events, so we’ve taken a lot of time planning and considering things that we thought would be meaningful for the festival for this first year. And we’re excited that we’ll get to do it again the following year with different perspectives. One of the goals for our next round is to try to get more community involvement from the start. cated on the 2nd floor in the 100 building next to the East parking garage. Residents in need of assistance can contact the Registry of Deeds Customer Service Desk via telephone at (978) 542-1704 or email us at SouthernEssexCustomerService@ sec.state.ma.us. CULTURAL COUNCIL | FROM PAGE 5 more specifically Saugus Middle and High School students,” Gould told The Saugus Advocate. “I mentioned in one of my first Saugus Cultural Council meetings how I would love to organize a Cultural Festival to showcase Saugus’s diversity and arts, and the members of the council immediately supported this idea and the entire council embraced the idea of planning a festival,” he said. Gould, who has served the community for more than 20 years on various boards and commissions, including Town Meeting, is currently a co-chair of the Cultural Council. “Feb. 23 came about by wanting enough time to organize the festival, but also to have it at the new Saugus Middle/ High School complex on a non-interference basis with students or student athletes. Feb. 23 is the last day of February school vacation,” Gould said. “This being our first of hopefully many annual events, I believe the council has done a good job of getting an excellent cross section of the arts to perform, activities for children and a good variety of food vendors for our Saugus families to enjoy,” he said. “The entertainment and activities are great for all age groups, and I truly hope many families, students and senior citizens come for a free afternoon of entertainment.” Vanessa Dellheim, who has been on the Saugus Cultural Council for exactly a year, grew up in Saugus and is currently raising a family here. Dellheim called Saugus “an amazingly diverse community where our families support one another each and every day.” “It is exactly this, our town’s diversity and inclusion, that should be highlighted and celebrated,” Dellheim said. “My family has attended (and enjoyed!) countless programs that were funded by the Cultural Council, and it was these events where I learned about the council and the team helping create these programs for our community,” she said. “I became interested about the grant cycle, and most importantly, the opportunities to give back to the community, which were just a few of the many reasons why I applied to join the council,” she said. “I am excited for all the positive work that the council supports throughout the community, the reception from Saugonians around our events, and am especially looking forward to the Cultural Fair this month – it’s going to be a great day for all ages!”
12 Publizr Home