By Courtney Wright
“In the Spring, I have counted 136 kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.” -Mark Twain
St. Patrick’s Day is always a big deal in Boston and while Mission Hill is acutely aware of the debauchery that accompanies it, we did our best to counter that and offer some festive entertainment in its place in Brigham Circle on the Saturday prior to the holiday for the second year in a row. On March 14th, the Boston Police Gaelic Column Pipe and Drum Band arrived on their trolley tour and performed amongst packed houses at both Penguin Pizza and the Mission Bar and Grill. I loved seeing people’s faces as they entered each of the businesses and began playing. For those who didn’t know it was happening, they were pleasantly surprised and joined in. It was a great night and judging by how long they hung out, I believe them when they say they can’t wait to come back next year. Thank you again to MHMS Board member and Penguin owner Pamela Carthy for making the connection that made the event possible and to Harry Walsh, owner at the Mission, for being such a gracious host to the post-performance festivities and collaboration all weekend. It was a great Saturday in Mission Hill and I’m so appreciative of everyone who helped to make it possible.
This Saturday, April 4th, at 1 p.m., the Parker Hill Library will host the annual Anthology Reading of the Mission Hill Women’s Writing Group. With a grant from the Mission Hill/Fenway Neighborhood Trust, the MH Women’s Writing Group works throughout the fall with writing coaches and others to create an annual Anthology of their work. Nancy Ahmadifar works hard to put this together and her efforts are appreciated by so many; I am excited to attend and hear the work of our MH Women’s writers in person. I hope you will too.
As we prepare for ‘May flowers’, April is a busy month. April 1st means that street cleaning is back, but I encourage everyone to download the 311 app and report sidewalk and street trash as you see it. Graffiti Busters- the city’s graffiti removal program starts back up the first of May but I encourage you to report it as you see it as well in the meantime.
We secured grant funding last year that enabled us to hire Project Place to do twice weekly street and sidewalk sweeping. I am sure you saw Ivan and Terry out and about on Tuesdays and Fridays helping to clean our business district. They wear vests that say Project Place and I hope you were able to engage with them. Thanks to Rep. Chynah Tyler getting an earmark in the State budget for Main Streets, we will be renewing the contract with Project Place so that the cleaning can continue. Thank you Rep. Tyler!
On Saturday April 11th, a group of Northeastern student volunteers will be joining us to do a neighborhood clean up to help prepare for Spring and new planters which will be installed by the end of the month with their spring/summer plantings.
If you want an opportunity to get your hands dirty and participate in some neighborhood clean-up efforts, April 25th, is the City’s annual Love Your Block clean-up day for Mission Hill. MH Main Streets is one of the registered sites so if you would like to join our Board and other volunteers to participate in a clean-up during Love Your Block, please reach out to me at [email protected]. We will be meeting at Sheehy Park on April 25th at 9:30 a.m. and all are welcome (but if you plan to come and can let us know, please do so we can prepare supplies). As Margaret Atwood says, ‘In the Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt’.
Mission Hill Little League also kicks off on the 25th of April (see more in Mossy’s column) so you could make it a complete day in the neighborhood by volunteering in the morning and then going to watch the MH Little League kick-off around noon!
Some good news on the business front- Congratulations to Diego Restrepo on his upcoming new business opening at 1536 Tremont Street! (the former Kush Groove Space) Empire Fruit, as it will be called, is finalizing their buildout of the space and securing final permits (hopefully by the time you’re reading this) and hopes to open by the end of the month or early April. The photo accompanying my article this month was provided by Diego to give a preview of their menu and the types of products they will be selling- predominantly fruit, smoothies and cold items like salads and sandwiches. Diego is a Mission Hill resident and has poured his heart into this endeavor so I hope you will all welcome him and his new business when it opens in the coming weeks.