Page 16 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, SEpTEmbEr 22, 2023 The Sounds of Saugus By Mark E. Vogler Good morning, Saugus! Happy fall to all! Aside from the part where I have to spend about 10 hours or more raking and blowing leaves in my yard, the fall is my favorite season. I love to look at the foliage and I enjoy my long walks even more when I’m wearing sweatshirts instead of sweating as I do the miles on a hot summer day. If you want to get into the fall spirit, there are a couple of nice local events that I can recommend. For starters, do plan to visit the “Pumpkin Patch” this weekend – on the lawn outside First Congregational Church in Saugus Center, looking across Hamilton Street toward Saugus Town Hall. Get in the autumn frame of mind by purchasing a pumpkin for a good cause. And tomorrow morning (Saturday, Sept. 23) is a spectacle that happens every year – the unloading of “the Pumpkin Truck.” “The truck is on its way and left early yesterday [Tuesday, Sept. 19],” Pumpkin Patch coordinator Carl Spencer told me Wednesday night. “If everything goes right, the truck should be here by 9 – rain or shine. So, people who want to help out should dress appropriately.” Rain or shine, Carl is counting on a core of volunteers to show up and form a brigade from the back of the tractor trailer truck to neat little rows on the lawn where more than 3,000 pumpkins in all shapes and sizes will be placed. There will be kids from the Pioneer Charter School, Saugus High School and other local schools helping to unload the truck. There will also be representatives from the Boy Scouts, the Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Brownies, Pop Warner and various youth leagues participating. Various charitable organizations, church groups and clubs will also be participating. “If everything goes right, the truck will be here by 9 and it should take no more than three hours to empty the pumpkins,” Carl told me. Another truckload of pumpkins will be arriving in three weeks to keep the Pumpkin Patch going until Halloween (Oct. 31). This marks the 21st year of the Pumpkin Patch at Saugus Center. Saugus is one of many communities receiving pumpkins from the Navajo Reservation near Farmington, N.M., working with a program called Pumpkin Patch USA, which coordinates the destination of the pumpkins. The church and the Navajo Reservation both benefit from the pumpkins. If you love mums, there’s another great event for you to check out this weekend – the 5th Annual Saugus Youth Soccer Mums Fall Fundraiser, down at Anna Parker Field at 124 Essex St., next to the Fire Station. Starting at 5 o’clock tonight (Friday, Sept. 22), mums of multi-colors – red, lavender, yellow, orange and white – will be sold. The mums will be on sale tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 23) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. And if they don’t sell out, they will be on sale Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Any questions, please contact Mary Migliore at 781-521-5081 or text her at mry8765@aol.com. Jimmy Fund Crafts Fair on Sunday at the MEG Sharon Genovese and her group – Sharon’s Sneaker Crew – is sponsoring a Jimmy Fund Crafts Fair on Sunday (Sept. 24) from 1 to 4 p.m. at the MEG Building (58 Essex St., Saugus). All the proceeds will be going to the Jimmy Fund. This will be Sharon’s ninth year walking in the Dana-Farber Jimmy Fund Boston Marathon Walk. She began walking in 2014. Her friend Kristin Callahan joined her in 2017 and they started Sharon’s Sneaker Crew. Sharon’s son Matthew and friend Ben joined them in 2018 and 2019. This year, Matthew will walk for the third time, doing the 26.2 mile walk. Sharon and her son Bobby will walk in the 10K, and Kristin Callahan and Karen Speziale plan to walk the 5K. For more information, you can call or text Sharon at 617-966-3475 or email her at sunkin1@aol.com. Food Pantry notes The Saugus United Parish Food Pantry is open today (Friday, Sept. 22) from 9:3011 a.m. Legion Breakfast today There’s a good breakfast deal for Saugus veterans CELEBRATING CONSTITUTION DAY: Gail Cassarino, regent of the Parson Roby Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), began a bell-ringing tradition in front of Saugus Town Hall last Saturday to observe the 236th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. See inside for story and more photos. (Saugus Advocate photo by Tara Vocino) and other folks who enjoy a hearty breakfast on Friday mornings. The American Legion Post 210 at 44 Taylor St. in Saugus offers Friday morning breakfasts for the 2023-24 season. Doors open at 7:30, with breakfast served from 8-9:00 a.m. for an $8 donation. Veterans who cannot afford the donation may be served for free. Special “Shout Outs” We received multiple recommendations from our readers this week for “Shout Outs.” The more, the merrier! The residents of Cliff Road and Anderson Way “would like to extend our thanks to Todd Champlain Excavating and his crew. The project that they were hired to do left us surprised and concerned. He listened to our concerns and complaints. He and his crew were professional, polite and accommodating. He made accommodations to ensure that appointments could be kept. When we had to leave our vehicles at Stackpole Field, he even had his crew carrying shopping bags to people’s homes on more than one occasion. He shuttled cars and even fixed a mailbox. This was all done without being asked. He left the street looking better when he left, not because of a new water system and road paved. Because of his personal touches and his motto to do the right thing. Our special thanks for the respect we all received by him and his whole crew.” Editor’s Note: The concerns of Cliff Road and Anderson Way residents was the subject of a July 7 frontpage story in The Saugus Advocate after they expressed dismay that they didn’t learn about the planned shutdown of their road for a water main project until just five days before the scheduled closing on July 5. But Champlain told The Saugus Advocate that he decided to postpone the start of the project a week because he didn’t think it was proper to begin the project just days before the July 4 holiday. In an interview with the newspaper, Champlain said he planned to address all of the neighbors’ concerns. And based on this shoutout, it looks like he did. Kim Calla, a Stocker Street THE SOUNDS | SEE PAGE 17
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