All Quiet?

Welcome back!

The kids went back to school on Thursday, equipped with the latest and greatest phones, smartwatches and other technological marvels from the holidays. Was this a massive experiment in reverse psychology to help get a stricter cell phone policy passed by the SPS School Committee, or are those phones loaded up with mindfulness apps? We’ll never know…

It’s about to be election season in Sudbury. If you’re new to town, that means grown adults will absolutely lose their minds on social media. Sudbury’s supply of false and misleading information will hit surplus levels before all the candidates even announce their intention to run. Then, after 80 percent of the community is good and disgusted, about 20 percent of the town’s registered voters will cast a vote. Ahhh, small town traditions.

Here’s what we have for you this very slow news week:

1. State of the Sudbury Food Scene

2. Run for Local Office – It’s Your Right!

3. Sudbury Weather Roundup

4. Sudbury 250 Committee - Invitation to Submit Entries

5. Eversource Energizes Line, DCR Gets Started - MCRT Trail Construction Imminent

6. Annual Town Meeting Is Monday, May 5, 2025

Let’s get into it!

State of the Sudbury Food Scene

By Kevin LaHaise

Sudbury is home to nearly three dozen restaurants at the outset of 2025. On a per-capita basis, Sudbury has higher restaurant density than some of the most restaurant-dense cities in the country. 

But much of the density comes in the form of similar offerings. What does that tell us about Sudbury’s food scene? And where might it go from here? 

A Basic Survey of the Scene

The town is served by 8 places to get pizza, pasta and subs. Sudbury Pizza Place and Rossini’s operate out of the same plaza on Boston Post Road, while Domino’s is in the plaza across the street. Wayside Pizza is on the west end of Boston Post Road, while Franco’s and Papa Gino’s are to the east. Max & Leo’s is up north on 117, while CJ’s occupies space in the historic Town Center. 

For a period of time, Sudbury had two full-service Mexican food options in Sobre Mesa and Acapulcos. The former is converting into an Italian concept called Sul Tavolo later this month, and Acapulcos has been gone for years. Sul Tavolo will be the second full-service Italian restaurant in town, joining Da Vinci’s Bistro which occupies the old Friendly’s building in front of Sudbury Farms. Several of Sudbury’s pizza places also offer Italian fare. 

When Zayith Tapas and Bar opens in the former Fugakyu space, it will be the third Mediterranean option in Sudbury. El Basha has been somewhat of a fixture in the Sudbury Crossing plaza, and Clover Food Lab offers quick-service inside the Whole Foods in the Meadow Walk plaza. 

Residents also have numerous options for Asian fare. That includes two Thai restaurants, Chili Basil Thai and Riceberry, as well as two Chinese restaurants, Lotus Blossom and Lavender, and longtime sushi standout, Oishi Too. 

Sudbury was home to two popular Indian restaurants for years - Paani and Soul of India. Paani recently closed, but Soul of India continues to serve the community. 

Meanwhile, traditional American and New American options are plentiful. The Meadow Walk development features Oak Barrel Tavern for full-service pub fare, and MooYah for quick-service burgers, shakes and hot dogs. Sudbury Point Grill, which is owned and operated by the team behind Franco’s Trattoria, features a casual but massive fusion menu of New England seafood, Italian-American classics, and traditional American dishes. 

Two iconic Sudbury restaurants round out the American offerings in town - Bullfinchs and the Wayside Inn. The former is best described as New American cuisine with its fusion of food from a variety of cultures and traditions. The historic Wayside Inn offers, perhaps fittingly, a traditional American menu highlighted by seafood and an excellent prime rib. 

If you’re looking for a seated breakfast, your best bet is the always-bumping Farmer’s Daughter. The relative newcomer to the Sudbury scene has little competition for daily seated breakfast in Sudbury, but perhaps few would want to compete with their innovative menu, bright and modern interior, and clever “boozy brunch” cocktails. Bullfinchs does offer a weekend brunch which remains quite popular. 

If you’re looking for quick service at breakfast time, or a pick-me-up anytime, Sudbury has no shortage of coffee, sweets and treats. Longtime institution Sudbury Coffee Works has been serving up coffee, baked goods, smoothies and sandwiches for decades. Karma Coffee is another local gem, as is Debby’s Drive Thru in the Sudbury Farms parking lot. Debby’s Drive Thru is also the only drive-through food service window in Sudbury, operating out of a former Fotomat kiosk. The national coffee chains also seem to do well in Sudbury - even without a drive-through window. Starbucks and Dunkin are in the heart of the Route 20 corridor, and Honey Dew Donuts is in the historic Town Center. 

Whole Foods has a coffee bar inside, and New City Microcreamery serves up coffee alongside its wide variety of ice creams and other treats. Ye Olde Farm Stand, just west of Whole Foods, serves up Italian ice and hot dogs seasonally. 

High Density, Modest Variety, Bargains For All

While Sudbury clearly has a large number of restaurants per capita, they are disproportionately clustered in a few categories. Over 26 percent of Sudbury’s restaurants are coffee shops and 24 percent offer pizza, pasta and subs. Approximately 18 percent of Sudbury restaurants offer Asian fare. 

When Sobre Mesa converts to Sul Tavolo, Sudbury will have no Mexican food options remaining in a town that has sustained multiple Mexican restaurants for decades, dating at least as far back to Sierra’s on North Road. But the town is now surrounded by Mexican options. 

Don Patron in Marlborough is a short drive down Route 20 for those looking for a mix of interior Mexican and Tex-Mex, meanwhile Bueno Y Sano offers quick-service just over the Maynard border in the Market Basket plaza. YoBocaTaco has been slinging tacos out of the gas station across the street from Coach Grill in Wayland, and Adelita’s in Concord was recently joined by Bandoleros. 

The opening of Zayith Tapas and Bar might be much-anticipated because it could, like Farmer’s Daughter, be one-of-a-kind in Sudbury. 

While you can get a steak at several Sudbury restaurants, there’s no traditional American steakhouse in town. Sudbury’s restaurants lean more casual and affordable than one might expect in a suburb with a million-dollar-plus median home price. Wayland has Coach Grill, Wellesley has Smith and Wollensky, Shrewsbury has Willy’s, and Groton has Gibbet Hill. 

In fact, Sudbury’s higher-end dining establishments feature some of the biggest bargains in town. 

The 16-ounce “Innkeeper’s cut” of prime rib at the Wayside Inn is a mere $39.95 and comes with two sides. At Da Vinci’s Bistro, you can spring for the beef tenderloin, or the lamb chops, or even the 14-ounce ribeye. Each comes with two sides and none of them are priced over $50. The lamb chops and filet mignon at Bullfinchs are similarly priced, while other dishes such as a roasted half duck for $38 are a steal. 

National steakhouse chains like Ruth’s Chris in Waltham sell their ribeyes for over $70, and a side of creamed spinach will set you back another $14. However, they tend to offer “special occasion” or “date night” dining experiences with luxurious and modern decor, formal attire, and dim lighting. 

Sudbury has a higher percentage of households with children, and a higher percentage of senior citizens relative to other cities and towns in Massachusetts. Almost half, 47 percent, of households have members under age 18 according to the demographics section of Sudbury’s Housing Production Plan. (Pages 44-50) That likely explains why family-friendly, casual dining is pervasive here, why restaurants put such an emphasis on value, and why eight pizza purveyors can coexist.

Decidedly Local 

The defining characteristic of Sudbury’s dining scene is that the vast majority of its restaurants are independent. National chains, outside of coffee shops, don’t tend to locate in Sudbury. According to a CNBC report, fast casual chains have been eyeing rural locations in recent years, but none have emerged in Sudbury. 

That may actually prove to be an opportunity for Sudbury, even if it leaves Sweet Greens fans wanting. In 2015, Boston magazine described nearby Hudson’s burgeoning food scene as a “culinary mecca for entrepreneurial restaurateurs priced out of Boston.” Sudbury lacks the walkable downtown that was a key component of the formula for Hudson’s success, but the other elements like modest commercial rents and vacant spaces are present along Boston Post Road. For example, the property that was previously home to Acapulcos is listed for sale, complete with permits for the construction of a new restaurant, architectural renderings and seller financing for both the purchase and the construction. 

Historically Sudbury hasn’t had a destination retailer that attracted shoppers from far away. Limited access to major highways make Sudbury a bit ‘off the beaten path’ for others in the region. The Wayside Inn stands as one of the town’s strongest general attractions for non-residents, but with a high-quality food program and historic bar on site, it may not create as much of a ripple effect for other bars and restaurants. 

What remains to be seen is if two new rail trails can grow the customer base for Sudbury’s restaurants and retailers. The intersection of the Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT) and Bruce Freeman Rail trail (BFRT) is a few hundred feet behind the heart of Sudbury’s commercial corridor on Boston Post Road. One report on the economic impact of the Mass Central Rail Trail projected significantly stronger spending at restaurants from overnight trail users than single-day users. That may make the MCRT a stronger source of restaurant revenue, as that long-distance trail is expected to run clear across the state; making it ideal for overnight trips. It also runs parallel to almost all of Sudbury’s commercial corridor, providing an added, bi-directional connection to the corridor for BFRT users as well. 

With plenty of opportunities and challenges for restauranteurs, Sudbury’s food scene is robust, but evolving and diversifying rather slowly. The National Restaurant Association reports that nearly a third of restaurants won’t survive their first year. Estimates on average restaurant lifespan are all over the board, but most estimates seem to be in the 3-10 year range. An enormous percentage of Sudbury’s restaurants have been open for much longer than that, and quite a few are counting their lifespan in decades. Bullfinchs has been operating since 1981, and Sudbury Pizza Place and Sudbury Coffee Works have been serving Sudbury for several decades. 

If the longevity of Sudbury’s oldest restaurants and the crowds at newer restaurants like The Farmer’s Daughter are any indication, Sudbury may just be one of the best opportunities for restauranteurs. But will it get overlooked from highways that are miles and miles away? 

Run for Local Office – It’s Your Right!

By the League of Women Voters of Sudbury

It’s your right to run for local office. Here’s what you need to know to run in 2025:

File Your Intention to Run

Any Sudbury registered voter can run for local office. Visit the Town Clerk’s office, located in the Sudbury Town Hall, or, for Lincoln-Sudbury school committee candidates, the L-S District Clerk located in Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, to complete the form to file your intention to run. This process is colloquially called “pulling papers” because once the form is filed, you will receive a candidate packet containing dates and deadlines, details regarding campaign finance rules and requirements, a “Save the Date” from the LWV Sudbury for the Candidates’ Forum recording session and the Meet the Candidates event, and a set of nomination papers. Registered voters can file their intention to run beginning Monday, Jan. 6. You can find a list of open positions here and important dates, deadlines, and resources to help you run for office here.

Collect Signatures and Return Papers

Use your nomination papers to gather the signatures of no fewer than 50 registered voters. Then, return the papers to the Town Clerk or L-S District Clerk by Feb. 10. Once the signatures are certified by the Town Clerk’s office, your name will appear on the ballot. Gather enough signatures that if some fail to certify, you’ll still have more than 50.

Make Your Case to Voters

Set up a web page and social media site for your campaign, host coffees, shake hands at the Transfer Station, purchase push cards and yard signs, talk to voters informally, and participate in the LWV Sudbury Voters’ Guide, Candidates’ Forum, and Meet the Candidates events. Campaign finance filings of past candidates provide a wealth of information regarding campaign materials, the vendors who sell them, and the costs of acquiring them. You can find that information on the Town Clerk’s website in the documents section. Check your candidate packet for information on campaign finance rules and view the LWVMA’s “Run for Office: Campaign Finance” program here. In the program, Jason Tait of the Office of Campaign and Political Finance demystifies the campaign finance filing requirements and process and offers tips, tricks, and tools to make campaign finance filings easier.

FAQs

I have heard people say that they were “asked” to run. Do I need to be asked to run by a member of a board or committee?

Any Sudbury registered voter can run for local office. Members of boards or committees do sometimes recruit like-minded people to run, but many people run for office because they oppose the goals and ideas of the current board/committee or because they simply want to serve the community. You do not have to be asked.

What if I am new and nobody knows me? Don’t I need a large group of supporters?

All the elected officials serving today were once fresh, new faces. If you check the election archives here, you’ll see that many of them lost their first (and sometimes second) run for office, but used the skills and supporters that they gained while running to get elected in a subsequent election.

Do I need municipal experience or special credentials?

It certainly helps when you make your case to voters, but previous municipal experience or special credentials are not a pre-requisite. If you watch past Candidates’ Forums here, you will find that many of the elected officials serving today had no municipal experience or special skills when they ran for office. What they all shared was the courage to run and the desire to serve.

Sudbury Weather Roundup

By John Palmieri

Sudbury weather for December returned with fairly normal monthly precipitation values at 4.58 inches of rain including 3 inches of snow. The annual values of 2024 vs. 2023 were markedly different and that data is noted below. As you will see both years were very lean on snowstorms with only one storm, for both years, exceeding 6 inches and that was back on 1/7/2024. Happy New Year.

Annual Rainfall for 2024: 45.73 inches

Annual Rainfall for 2023: 63.33 inches

Annual Snowfall for 2024: 23.5 inches

Annual Snowfall for 2023: 22.5 inches

Minimum Temp for 2024: 1 degree which just occurred on 12/23/24.

Minimum Temp for 2023: -12 degree which occurred on 2/4/23.

Maximum Temp for 2024: 97 degree which occurred on 6/20/24.

Maximum Temp for 2023: 95 degrees which occurred on 9/7/2023.

Thank you and we are off to cold and windy but noticeably dry for 2025.

Sudbury 250 Committee - Invitation to Submit Entries

Submitted by the Sudbury 250 Committee

Dear Sudbury:

The Sudbury Select Board established the Sudbury 250 Committee to plan for the commemoration of the 250^th anniversary of the commencement of the American Revolution. The following is from the mission statement.

It is anticipated that many of the observances will take place in the early spring through late winter of 2025, although the Committee may plan later events, such as the July 4, 2026 observances.

The Committee will:

Sudbury 250 Committee wishes to mark the commemorations by including Sudbury’s role in the events leading up to the American Revolution and beyond.

In this connection, here is an invitation to the entire community of Sudbury other than school age children. Students are invited to participate through the schools and the Sudbury 250 Committee. Please examine the following two ideas for the American story.

1. Consider and reflect upon the events culminating in the April 19, 1775 Minutemen march and the ensuing battles, and the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 from the then Sudbury perspective and involvement and the prevailing national perspective.

2. What does 250 years of American Independence mean to you, the nation, and the world today? How do you envisage the future 50 or 100 years from now?

These two ideas can be approached through several forms, including but not limited to the following ideas:

• Essay (800 words or less)

• Spoken word

• Drama/Play

• Music

• Dance

• Debate

  • Debate the pros and cons of joining the American Revolution as were argued by Loyalists and Revolutionaries (Patriots)

Suggested duration for performances (other than essay): 

• 5 minutes to 10 minutes

• drama/play or debate could be up to 40 to 60 minutes

Deadlines:  

• 4/19/2025 for consideration for essay entries

• 8/30/2025 for consideration for performance entries scheduled for Fall 2025 or Spring 2026, culminating in Sudbury 250 Day (May, 2026)

A current list of events is given below. This list will be updated and posted at sudbury.ma.us/sudbury250

Please submit either written entries or audio and video recordings with accompanying explanatory notes to: [email protected] 

Selected entries will be performed at one of the Sudbury 250 events. 

Selected essays will be published in the Sudbury 250 commemorative book.

Eversource Energizes Line, DCR Gets Started - MCRT Trail Construction Imminent

By Kevin LaHaise

Nearly a decade after the conflict over a transmission line project between the Town of Sudbury and Eversource began, the line has been buried and energized. According to the Eversource project page:

Coming in hot on the heels of Eversource, as they had promised, the Department of Conservation and Recreation has already put the Mass Central Rail Trail Wayside (MCRT) section out to bid for construction in Spring 2025. Bids are due back later this month.

STREETSBLOG MASS included Sudbury’s section of the MCRT in a roundup of new trail openings in 2025. Sudbury’s Bruce Freeman Rail Trail was also featured.

Those interested in further details and updates about the trails can tune into Sudbury’s Rail Trails Advisory Committee meeting on Wednesday, January 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Annual Town Meeting is Monday, May 5, 2025

By Kevin LaHaise

The Town Clerk’s office has announced the 2025 Election and Town Meeting schedule. Town Meeting is slated to start on Monday, May 5, and it usually takes a couple nights to get through everything.

That’s why it’s important that you start developing your excuse for not attending now. Unfortunately, this article has taken away your excuse that you couldn’t find childcare. Four months is enough time to train an 8 year-old how to survive in the wild. Surely finding a babysitter from the pool of 19,000 people who aren’t attending Town Meeting in May is more feasible.

The savvy move is to book a vacation for that whole week. Town Meeting starts on Cinco De Mayo. Los Cabos, anyone?

Otherwise, mark your calendars for Annual Town Meeting now! More details here.

Parting Thoughts

Things pick back up next week. Both school committees will meet, the Rail Trails Advisory Committee will meet, the Goodnow Library Trustees will be voting on their revolving fund spending limits, and the Community Preservation Committee returns as they look to finish their hearings and finalize articles for Town Meeting before the deadline at the end of January.

There are a few ongoing storylines we’re following to start the year.

Obviously, the FY26 budget is the big one. That unpacks into to several other stories, including the funding model for the Park and Recreation department.

Solar everything, whether it’s a solar revolving fund or a solar roof, will likely be a news driver through Annual Town Meeting, and perhaps beyond.

On the school front - gender identity policies continue to be a major topic of conversation in the community. That could heat up further with the incoming Trump administration taking power later this month.

The Town election will be a big focus as well. We’ll be doing our Q&A interviews with candidates again this year.

Sudbury is also expecting to get a new Fire Chief following outgoing Chief Whalen’s retirement. With staffing challenges in fire departments across the state, and calls increasing for the Sudbury Fire Department year after year, that could be a critical transition for the Town.

And finally - we expect housing to remain a community focus for at least a while longer. Will the relevant boards and committees sign off on a final draft of the Housing Production Plan? How will the Community Preservation Committee vote on the Sudbury Housing Authority’s duplex project? Time will tell.

Onward!