Hello, Fall

September 12, 2025

Welcome back!

Some people call this “sweatah weathah,” but it’s really just “sleeping weather.” As the temperatures cool down from the peak of summer, the intensity of municipal business picks up. There was activity everywhere this week, and much to report. Here’s what we have for you:

  1. Town to Pursue Supplemental Funding for SMILE Playground

  2. An Invitation from the Sudbury Housing Trust and the Sudbury Housing Authority to Learn More from State and Local Experts About the Housing Crisis

  3. Select Board Initiates Sewataro Evaluation from Town Staff

  4. Staying Steady: How to Prevent Falls This Season and Beyond

  5. National Voter Registration Day — Tuesday, September 16

  6. Step Up to the Plate: Volunteer with the Miracle League of Massachusetts This Fall

  7. LS Athletics: Warriors Review

  8. 250 Years Ago…

  9. Sudbury 250 Upcoming Fun-filled Events

  10. Celebration of Life – Dick Williamson

Let’s get into it!

Town to Pursue Supplemental Funding for SMILE Playground

NEWS
By Kevin LaHaise

The Town of Sudbury will pursue Community Preservation Act funding to complete a playground renovation project at Haskell Field. The development came after public uproar over the execution on the initial project.

At the Monday, September 8 meeting of the Park and Recreation Commission, Sudbury’s Finance Director and Assistant Town Manager, Victor Garofalo, presented an analysis of the initial SMILE Playground renovation project, followed by a series of five potential concepts to pursue via the Community Preservation Act process in Sudbury.

An Invitation from the Sudbury Housing Trust and the Sudbury Housing Authority to Learn More from State and Local Experts About the Housing Crisis

EVENTS
By The Sudbury Housing Trust and Sudbury Housing Authority
Creating Livable Communities: The Status of Housing in Sudbury
Goodnow Library, Thursday, October 23, 2025, 7:00-8:30 PM

The Scope of the Housing Crisis: 

Housing is a problem across the country, across Massachusetts, across the Metro West region, and in Sudbury. It is an issue which has brought together Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and unanimous bipartisan support of the membership of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committee in support of the ROAD to Housing Act. (Boston Globe 7–29-2025.)

In February of this year Massachusetts, through the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), released “A Home For Everyone – A Comprehensive Housing Plan for Massachusetts 2025-2029”. Some of the key findings of the Plan include that Massachusetts needs to add 222,000 homes to the available housing stock between 2025 and 2029 and that a shortage of homes is the root cause of the current housing crisis. According to the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) 2025 Annual Housing Institute almost half of the additional homes needed are for Millennial and Gen Z households. The greatest need is in eastern Massachusetts, including Middlesex County and the surrounding areas.

Select Board Initiates Sewataro Evaluation from Town Staff

NEWS
By Kevin LaHaise

On Tuesday, September 9, the Sudbury Select Board voted to instruct Town Manager Andy Sheehan to review the Town’s current agreement with a private camp operator at Camp Sewataro and return to the board with options, information, and recommendations for how to proceed in the future.

Member Charlie Russo, who negotiated the terms of the current agreement with the camp operator, defended the overall approach to the license agreement. He cited that the latest agreement increased the rent paid by the camp operator to match what the Town used to generate in property tax revenue when it was privately owned.

“In the second round the goal was, let’s get the guaranteed revenue to be equivalent to what the property taxes were, roughly. They’re paying roughly $200,000 in property taxes at the time. Let’s get the base payment closer to the, the equivalent of that, and then the revenue share on top. And then, you know, there was the ADA improvements that we asked for, and if the Town just managed it on its own, probably none of those would have happened. So that access that’s there now probably wouldn’t be there.”

Member Dan Carty, along with Russo, pushed the board to get more specific about the instructions being provided to Town Manager Andy Sheehan. In response, Chair Lisa Kouchakdjian gave an example of what she wanted the professional staff to evaluate. Kouchakdjian pointed out that she wanted to understand the pros and cons of a license agreement versus a triple-net lease.

❝

So I was the one negotiating this original deal with the camp operator, and all this stuff came up, and we picked the reason that we did for reasons, okay?

Staying Steady: How to Prevent Falls This Season and Beyond

FEATURES
By Dr. Randall McShine, Emerson Health Primary Care Sudbury
Your Health with Dr. McShine

[This is the first column in a regular series of health information and wellness tips from Emerson Health Sudbury.]

September is Fall Prevention Month, an important reminder that preventing accidents is an important part of protecting your health and independence. Falls are one of the leading causes of injury for older adults. The good news is that many are preventable with some simple lifestyle adjustments.

Why Fall Prevention Matters

A fall can lead to broken bones, head injuries, or even hospital stays. Beyond the physical injuries, falling can also cause people to lose confidence in moving around, which may lead to reduced activity, muscle weakness, and even more risk of future accidents. The key is to take steps now to stay safe and steady.

National Voter Registration Day — Tuesday, September 16

EVENTS
By The League of Women Voters of Sudbury

National Voter Registration Day is next Tuesday, September 16! We’re celebrating democracy by helping every eligible American get registered.

Have you moved or changed your name? Are you a new citizen? Would you like to vote-by-mail?

Stop by the Goodnow Library atrium between 2 PM and 5 PM to check your voter registration status. A volunteer will be able to assist you.

Hosted by the League of Women Voters of Sudbury & the Goodnow Library.

Step Up to the Plate: Volunteer with the Miracle League of Massachusetts This Fall

EVENTS
By Miracle League of Massachusetts
A League and a Field for All

At the Miracle League of Massachusetts, every child, regardless of ability, can step up to the plate, feel the thrill of a hit, and round the bases to cheers. Based in Acton, the nonprofit was founded on the belief that “Every Child Deserves a Chance to Play Baseball.” Games are held at NARA Park on a custom-designed field built with these athletes in mind, fully accessible and universally designed for wheelchairs, walkers, and other mobility supports so every player can fully participate.

Fall 2025 Season Details

The Miracle League is currently seeking volunteers for its Fall 2025 season. Youth games, for players ages 5–21, will be held on Saturdays from September 6 through October 25. Game times are 9:00 a.m., 10:15 a.m., and 11:30 a.m. Volunteers can sign up for one game, a few, or the whole season, depending on their schedules.

LS Athletics: Warriors Review

NEWS
By the Lincoln-Sudbury Athletic Department

250 Years Ago…

FEATURES
By Jan Hardenbergh

250 Years Ago, Sudbury was in the middle of an epidemic known as the bloody flux. We know this from Rev. Jacob Bigelow’s Burial Records and the Diary of Experience Wright Richardson, in which she recorded her thoughts from 1728 until 1782. She mentions the disease first in August 29 and twice more, for example:

“September 18 1775 Oh the terible judgments we have in the land beside the war we have the Bloody flux & a great many Dye with it”

Rev. Bigelow was the minister of what we now call First Parish in Sudbury. His burial records do not mention the cause of death, but the numbers are grim. In September of 1775, he buried 17 children and 5 adults. Another 11 perished in October. For reference, in 1773 he buried a total of 14 people; and in 1774 it was 11.

The epidemic, also known as “camp fever”, probably started in the army camps of the Siege of Boston due to poor sanitation. It spread through all the towns in the surrounding area. Today we know it as dysentery.

Sudbury 250 Upcoming Fun-filled Events

EVENTS
By The Sudbury 250 Committee

Sudbury 250 Committee extends a hearty welcome to all Sudbury residents of all ages`to these fun and festive events that are uniquely Sudbury yet deeply rooted in the American Revolution.

  • September 21, 2025: Wayside Inn Grounds

    • Presentation and firing of cannon to commemorate the movement of Ticonderoga Cannon under the command of Henry Knox. Dusk & Night firing.

    • 6 PM Music by Sudbury Fyfe & Drum, March by Sudbury Militia and Minute

    • 6:30 PM – 7:15 PM Cannon Display

  • September 27, 2025: Wayside Inn Grounds

    • Sudbury 250 sponsors the Colonial Faire and Muster of Fyfe & Drum with living history demonstrations of life in colonial New England.

    • Join us on the grounds of the historic Longfellow’s Wayside Inn for a full day of music, muskets, history, and fun. 

    • 10 AM The Faire opens with a Colonial encampment, militia and crafts demonstrations, and contradancing. We expect dozens of colonial and craft vendors and 25 fife and drum corps from across New England and New York. Food is available on the field.

    • 12 PM The Grand Parade of fifes and drums will begin promptly at noon and will be followed directly by a performance by each of the corps attending. The muster is a celebration rather than a competition: The corps are appearing by invitation, and attend to share their music and friendship. Come enjoy the music and remember our Colonial heritage.

Thanks to Sudbury TV and Soterios Zoulas for the Global Village’s Sudbury 250 episode where we talk about Sudbury 250 as we commemorate and celebrate our great shared experiment in self rule and the yearning to be free. We talk about the role of the Minutemen and the coming Sudbury 250 events. Give it a watch!

Celebration of Life – Dick Williamson

EVENTS/OBITS
By Sudbury Weekly

Sudbury residents are invited the attend a Celebration of Life gathering on Sunday, September 14, at 3:00 PM at Davis Field in honor of Dick Williamson who died on August 9. 

Dick was a member of the Park and Recreation Commission and a strong advocate for the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.

Please bring a folding chair if you wish.

Parting Thoughts

On Thursday, the Town of Sudbury hosted it’s annual ceremony to honor those lost in the September 11 attacks. It is a solemn local tradition that just happened to fall on a week marked by horrifying acts of violence from sea to shining sea.

It’s hard not to feel pessimistic on weeks like this.

One of the more famous lines from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have Been To the Mountaintop” speech is “It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world: it's nonviolence or nonexistence; that is where we are today.”

It’s as relevant today as it was when he first wrote it. But the lines that preceded that one offer a bit more to consider:

“And another reason that I'm happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we are going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demands didn't force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them. Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it.”

What type of future would we give our children and grandchildren if we grappled with the problems instead of each other? And might we just rediscover the audacious optimism of the American experiment in that work?

Onward!

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