Press Room

New Bedford, MA, August 17, 2010—The 2010 Working Waterfront Festival presents a Seafood Throwdown on Sunday, September 26th at 1PM. Chefs Henry Bousquet (Ice Chest) and Mike Melo (M & C Café) will compete to create a winning dish using a surprise seafood ingredient and local produce. Judging their creations will be Paula Marcoux, contributing writer for edibleSouthshore, Bruce Newbury, host of Dining Out and The Tasting Room, and Charis Anderson, food writer for the New Bedford Standard Times.

Tetrault Insurance Agency, Inc. is pleased to announce that Lucia Pimentel has joined the agency as Account Manager. Lucia is a licensed insurance broker with over twenty years experience in the insurance industry. Lucia will be working alongside Darren Fredette, VP, Commercial Insurance, to further develop the commercial lines practice.

Westport’s Town Farm provides the perfect setting to bring your family and friends on Saturday, August 21, to experience music inspired by landscapes similar to the Town Farm.

New Bedford poet Robert Xifaras won first prize in the "Fourth of July Poetry Works” All Star Poetry Contest sponsored by the Bridgewater Cultural Council and the Arts From the Heart of Middleboro. The event was featured at the Bridgewater Arts and Music Festival on the campus of Bridgewater State College on July 4, 2010. The name and the theme of the contest was "What it means to be an American in 2010".

The Greater New Bedford Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA) invites professional women within the community to attend their monthly meeting on Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at White’s of Westport. The meeting will begin with networking from 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. followed by dinner and then a speaker. The cost is $25 per person.

New Bedford, MA, August 2, 2010—Welcome aboard as New Bedford, America’s largest commercial fishing port, hosts the 7th Working Waterfront Festival. The FREE event takes place September 25th and 26th on the working piers and waterfront parks of the historic Port of New Bedford. More than simply a celebration, the Working Waterfront Festival is a unique opportunity for the public to get a firsthand look at the culture of fishing and for the commercial fishing community to tell its own story. The event presents all that goes into bringing seafood from the ocean to the table in a way that is hands-on, educational and fun.

MDA would like to give special thanks to not only the New Bedford firefighters for volunteering their time, but also to the local community who donated to this very important cause. All of the proceeds raised will go towards MDA’s services, research programs, and support groups which benefit local individuals and families affected by neuromuscular disease.

NEW BEDFORD, MA - JULY 28, 2010 - Connecting for Change: A Bioneers by the Bay Conference presented by the Marion Institute, will be returning to historic Downtown New Bedford, MA, on October 21-24, 2010. Connecting for Change is a four-day, SOLUTION BASED gathering that brings together a diverse audience to create deep and positive change in their communities.

It takes a lot of determination to stage an event as large as the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament. Particularly when you consider that the organizing committee is a small group of volunteers, this year numbering just nineteen men, who have spent the better part of a year carving out plans for the annual four day event that kicks off this year on July 29. But there’s a good reason why these men, their families, their colleagues from the Club Madeirense S. S. Sacramento and upwards of 200,000 people gather every summer for one glorious weekend of celebration. Call it tradition or call it cultural heritage but be sure to call the festa as it is known in Portuguese unique in the most grand of ways.

Call for Artists / Please post or forward to your artist friends!
Help Gallery X celebrate it’s 20th Birthday with our biggest show ever!!!
Public Hanging XXI
Aug. 4—Sept. 11. 2010
Open community art show. Public can submit up to 3 pieces of art (Paintings, sculpture, photography, ceramics, fabrics, etc.) at $10 per piece for inclusion in the show. Submit your work to Gallery X during the week of July 28-Aug. 1st.during regular hours. Visiting artists may contribute up to three pieces for a nominal fee of $10 per piece (Make checks payable to Gallery X). Members of the Gallery can enter their work without a fee. Do be certain that your work is prepared to be displayed. The Hanging itself will take place on the evening of Monday the 2nd of August, All work should be ready to hang with wire or proper hanging attachments. Any work mailed should include paid return postage. 2D work should be no larger than 4 ft. square. Gallery X is not responsible for work damaged in Gallery during and after commencement of exhibition…
Also in conjunction with the August Swain School activities at the Star Store and Crowell’s there will be many Alumni in exhibition and there will be special tags to highlight their work and what years they attended Swain.

Drop-off dates: July 28—Aug. 1, during Gallery hours.
Reception Sat. Aug 7, 7-10pm

Gallery X
169 William ST.
New Bedford, MA 03740
www.galleryx.org
508 992-2675
Gallery hours - Wed.-Fri. 11am-5pm, Sat. & Sun. 11am-3pm

Curators for exhibit, Charles Hauck, Don Wilkinson and John Nieman

So get busy! We would like to include as many local artists as possible….

Downtown New Bedford - July 2010 - During the month of July, local downtown business be jeweled will be celebrating its ten year anniversary.  For ten days, from July 11 until July 20, the entire inventory will be 10% off.  be jeweled will also hold a special "Midsummer's Night's Dream" event on July 30th at our downtown location to continue the celebration.  The store will remain open until 8pm this evening with the entire inventory also being 10% off.  Customers are welcome to enjoy light refreshments and enter to win a "Karma" necklace by Dogeared.

Business owner Pamela Arruda has been working in jewelry since she was a teenager.  After working for other established jewelry stores on Martha's Vineyard in San Francisco, Arruda decided to return home and open her first store in Padanaram.  Ten years later, be jeweled is now in two locations, 1 Bridge Street in Padanaram and 26 Centre Street in New Bedford.

be jeweled specializes in limited edition designer jewelry from around the world as well as featuring sterling silver and 14karat gold.

New Bedford, MA. – The 2010 Greater New Bedford Summerfest Folk Festival will celebrate its fifteenth anniversary by featuring the best in contemporary, traditional and Celtic folk music from Friday July 2 through Sunday July 4, 2010 in the Whaling National Historical Park in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The Summerfest is an affordable destination for families seeking a fun-filled Independence Day weekend.

The Working Waterfront Festival is pleased to announce the winner of its 2010 Design Contest. Julie (Nagel) Joseph of New Bedford submitted the winning design.

“We were impressed with Julie’s artistic ability and we liked the way she incorporated so many elements of the theme into her design,” (Laura Orleans, Festival Director). Julie’s design will appear on the Festival t-shirt, program guide, pocket guide and poster.

Under ordinary circumstances, Acushnet lives up to the meaning of its Wampanoag name – quiet place near water. But for a couple of weeks this summer, this small town, borne out of the womb of Olde Dartmouth, New Bedford and Fairhaven, will be abuzz with a celebratory fervor befitting its 150th anniversary. It took a century and a half to get here, but it the short span of seven days from July 3 to July 11, there will be enough history, nostalgia and good ol’ community fun packed into the Acushnet Sesquicentennial Celebration that folks will likely talk about into the next century.

Roland P. Valois, owner of R.P. Valois & Company Inc. contractors of Dartmouth, was selected as one of Remodeling magazine’s “Big 50” best-run firms nationwide at their annual Leadership Conference in Alexandria, VA.

Remodeling is the foremost national trade publication for professional remodeling contractors.

Father and son duo Matt and Rick Brodeur of Fairhaven, Mass recently turned in 1000 pounds of aluminum pull-tabs to the Shrine Club of Southeastern Mass which is the local Shrine Club (local chapter of the Shriners) that they belong to. The pull-tabs are used to benefit the Aleppo Shriners Patient Transportation Fund which provides free transportation to the Shriners Hospitals from anywhere in the world to children and their families. “Once they get to the Shriners Hospitals for Children®, children up to 18 receive the world’s best burn, orthopedic, spinal cord injury, cleft lip and palette without any financial obligation to the patients or their families,” said Rick Brodeur.

On Saturday, June 26, the New Bedford Preservation Society will present its 7th Annual Historical Cemetery Tour. The tour will feature Oak Grove Cemetery in New Bedford, where historic portrayals in period costume will take place at the gravesites of New Bedford notables along the tour route.

Always a popular event, this year’s tour will focus on the older, south section of Oak Grove, where many of the city’s oldest, distinguished families are buried. Cemeteries have been called outdoor museums, windows to the culture of the past. They not only serve as a resting place for the departed, they tell us much about the times in which they lived. Tour guides will highlight some of the elaborate memorials and explain the symbolism represented by the sculpture and decorative designs on the headstones.

Dartmouth Building Supply has completed installation of the region’s largest private solar energy project at its 958 Reed Road manufacturing facilities location in North Dartmouth.

The solar photovoltaic grid system consists of 960 solar panels producing 201,600 kilowatts of electricity annually― enough to provide 80% of DBS’s manufacturing facilities’ power needs. Unused power generated on weekends will be sold back to the grid. According to President Joseph Delgado, “investment in solar energy represents our ongoing commitment to long-term growth, cost containment and leadership in Green Technology.”

The project qualified for financial rebates granted through the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust and will further receive Federal Energy Tax Credits that reduce the firm’s investment cost and payback period. The project was designed and managed by Solar Installation Limited in Brockton, a division of Munro Electric.

The Annual Meeting of the Descendants of Whaling Masters will be held on Saturday, June 12, 2010, at The Wamsutta Club, 427 County Street, New Bedford MA. Social hour is 12 noon to 1 o’clock p.m. with luncheon and a business meeting and election of officers following. Luncheon menu choices are: Baked stuffed breast of chicken, baked scrod or Caesar salad with grilled chicken. $25 per person (all inclusive). Guests welcome. For more information and to make reservations call William Potter, Jr. at 508-994-0961 by June 7, 2010.

New Bedford, MA, May 12, 2010 – The Buttonwood Park Zoological Society is proud to announce the acquisition of a wildlife carousel. The carousel will feature 18 animals, many of which can be found in the Zoo such as the Asian elephant, seal and eagle. The 28’ carousel is being manufactured by Chance Morgan, a leading ride manufacturing company headquartered in Kansas. Zoological Society President Blair Bailey says, “This exciting new attraction will open later this summer, just in time to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the new zoo.”

WHALE, the Waterfront Historic Area LeaguE, invites its members and the general public to help clean up the site of the John Howland Jr. House on 38 South Sixth Street in New Bedford this Saturday, May 15 from 9AM to 12 Noon.

The Buttonwood Park Zoo is in contention for a $50,000 Pepsi Refresh Grant to create a new education program using live animals. Pepsi accepts 1,000 submissions and funding is awarded at the end of the month to the projects that have the most number of votes. "This is a tremendous opportunity for the Zoo and all of our surrounding communities," said Sarah O'Connell, Executive Director of the Buttonwood Park Zoological Society. "A new education animal program will not only significantly increase the experience for those visiting the Zoo but also allow us to create an outreach program to connect with those unable to visit us."

If your destination is New Bedford, Massachusetts - be sure to check out our New Bedford Calendar of Events - HERE

Voters of the Eleventh Bristol District will have a choice of whom they send to Beacon Hill on the 2010 ballot. Ivo Almeida (R) is thrilled to announce that he will be contending for the trust and favor of the people against twenty-one year incumbent, Robert Koczera (D).

Mr. Almeida, business-owner from Acushnet, is primed to fulfill the community’s desire for responsible, accessible representation in the legislature. Ivo intends to offer practical solutions and satisfy the needs of the district while encouraging the state to operate in a more provident fiscal manner. Of the many issues Mr. Almeida is equipped to tackle, his primary objectives and relevant experience relate more so to the areas of private-sector growth and job creation.

The Environmental Protection Agency has certified R.P. Valois & Company of Dartmouth as an “EPA Renovation Contractor.”

Effective April 22, 2010, contractors and workers are required to be specially trained and certified in the use of lead-safe practices when disturbing painted surfaces on homes and certain commercial properties built before 1978. Renovation projects subject to EPA performance guidelines include most repair, remodeling and maintenance activities.

“Protecting children from lead-based hazards has always been an operational policy for us and we are prepared to work within the federal regulations,”affirms General Contractor President, Roland P. Valois.

Further information on EPA compliance guidelines is available online at www.rpvalois.com or by calling 508-994-6506.

DARTMOUTH – Town Moderator Steven C. Sharek is looking for town residents interested in serving on a special nine-member committee that will review the town’s charter and potentially recommend changes in it. A review of the town’s charter is required once every ten years.

HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE DROP-OFF AT NEW LOCATION
Dartmouth and New Bedford Residents Only

New Bedford, Mass. - The Greater New Bedford Refuse District is holding its Spring Household Hazardous Waste Drop-off Day on Saturday, April 17th, from 9:00 a.m to noon at the Crapo Hill Landfill, 300 Samuel Barnet Blvd. This is a NEW collection site.

New Bedford, March 26, 2010: The Whaling City Clippers today announced that the team will be holding its first team meeting of the 2010 season. Any and all current or prospective players or operations personnel are invited to attend. This will be the first meeting to help determine the look and direction of the 2010 Whaling City Clippers as they enter their second year in the highly-competitive New England Football League’s AAA Division.

New Bedford, MA, March 24, 2010— Slated for September 25th & 26th, the 2010 Working Waterfront Festival will explore the many ways that immigrants from around the globe have shaped New England’s working waterfront communities with the theme All in One Boat: the Cultural Mosaic of New England’s Working Ports. Plans for this year include performances of traditional music, dance and storytelling and demonstrations of traditional crafts reflecting this varied ethnic heritage.

Cooking demonstrations will highlight family recipes and traditional approaches to preparing and preserving seafood. On the Festival’s Narrative Stage, working waterfront community members from a multitude of ethnic backgrounds will share immigration stories and explore how ethnic identity has shaped religious and community celebrations and traditional beliefs and practices at sea and on shore.