Join us May 30th 6 – 8 p.m. to celebrate work by our students this spring in our children’s programs and adult classes. Live demonstration by ceramics students on the Potter’s Wheel. Open to family, friends and the public!

For more information call 978-283-3888.

If you are spotting “Love Cape Ann” license plates more often these days, there is a very good reason – over 1,000 special Cape Ann license plates are now on the road.

In just a little over a year since they were first issued, these beautiful  plates featuring four iconic Cape Ann images and a colorful artist’s palette have become a familiar sight here on Cape Ann. They are also becoming great ambassadors for our region as their proud owners travel throughout America.

And now, the Cape Ann Community Foundation (CACF) and the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce have teamed up to offer a new service that will make it even easier to get your own Cape Ann license plate.

“We will help people complete the online application, either by phone or in person at the Chamber office, and new plates will be mailed right to their home,” explained Barb Sienkiewicz, the Chamber’s office manager and Cape Ann license plate coordinator. “No more trips to the Registry!”

Of course people can also apply online on their own by visiting lovecapeann.com and following the links to get a Cape Ann plate. Anyone with a non-commercial vehicle registered in Massachusetts, including leased vehicles, is eligible.

The CACF – a 501 (c) (3) charitable foundation established by the Chamber to receive and make grants from the proceeds of Cape Ann license plate sales and renewals – has also launched another initiative aimed at increasing sales. Area non-profits and school and youth organizations are being offered a $15 per plate incentive for every new plate they help sell through their organizations.

“We see this as a win-win-win:  a new fundraiser for Cape Ann non-profits, leading to more plates on the road, resulting in more funds for us to give back to the community,” said CACF Board President Ruth Pino.  “We need at least 3,000 Cape Ann plates on the road to ensure funding for future grants; our goal is to get there by 2020.”

Order your own Cape Ann license plate today. Call the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce at 978-283-1601 or visit the Chamber office at 33 Commercial Street in Gloucester.

The Gloucester Rotary Club has named Sal Frontiero and Susan Kelly as Paul Harris Fellows, the prestigious award named after the Chicago lawyer who founded the Rotary movement in 1905. Frontiero was selected by a club committee of previous recipients of the award, while Kelly was chosen by members of the Interact Club, the very active group of Gloucester High School Junior Rotarians. Frontiero and Kelly will be honored at a special dinner on Wednesday, May 23, at Cruiseport Gloucester, located at 6 Rowe Square in downtown Gloucester. The social hour will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m.

Sal Frontiero is a Gloucester native and local attorney, who currently owns and operates Frontiero Law Office in Gloucester, a general practice law firm.  He is active in the community and is currently a member of the Gloucester Rotary Club, the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce and the Gloucester Little League Board of Directors.  In addition, he provides pro bono legal services to seniors through the Rose Baker Senior Center.  He is a past President of the Gloucester Rotary Club, the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Cape Ann YMCA.  He has also been involved with numerous other nonprofit and charitable organizations in the Cape Ann area.

Sal graduated cum laude from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and is also a 1993 cum laude graduate of Suffolk University Law School.  In his spare time, he enjoys exercising, mountain biking and spending time with family.  He resides in Gloucester with his wife, Nicole, and their two children.

Susan Kelly is the co-founder and President of Generous Gardeners, a non-profit group of volunteer gardeners dedicated to the beautification of Gloucester with flowers.  In addition to installation of public gardens in Gloucester behind the police station and on the many traffic islands around the city, Susan was able to facilitate the installation of the Stacy Boulevard Gardens with Ann Gilardi Johnson, who designed the Fishermen’s wives plaza as well as the new beds.  Susan and other Generous Gardeners volunteers began planting the flowers in the fall of 2016 and continue to maintain those gardens. She is also the President of Microsearch Corporation, a company providing online research database websites. Susan divides her time now between Microsearch and her work with Generous Gardeners, which has become known in and out of Gloucester for its large and active membership and, in particular, for the boulevard and other public space gardens the group preserves. A graduate of Harvard University and Boston College Law School, she lives in West Gloucester with her husband Chuck. They have three grown children, Christopher, Courtland and Chase.

Tickets to the Paul Harris Distinguished Service Award Dinner are $47 per person and may be reserved by contacting event Chair Steve Kaity at 978-879-1051. The Dinner is open to the general public, and friends and colleagues of Frontiero and Kelly are encouraged to attend.

The mission of Rotary International is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through its fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders. For more information about the Gloucester Rotary Club, visit their website at www.gloucesterrotary.org or on Facebook @RotaryGloucesterMA.

The Gloucester Area Astronomy Club is fortunate indeed to have Dr. Jonathan McDowell with us this month, at 8:00 pm Friday May 11 at the Lanesville Community Center, speaking on “Space Junk: A Traffic Crisis in Outer Space.” All GAAC activities are free and open to the public.

Dr. McDowell is an Astrophysicist with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, a mathematician and a programmer. Dr. McDowell maintains one of the world’s best databases of orbital material launched into space – aka space junk.

It’s been over 60 years since the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, and space is getting busier and busier.

There are over 1,500 working satellites up there, but there are also over 18,000 known pieces of orbital debris whizzing around at up to 18,000 miles an hour. At that speed, a collision with even a small piece of junk can ruin your whole day.

Dr. McDowell will talk about the demographics of the satellite population: who is putting satellites up there, what are they doing, what the space junk is, why there’s so much of it — and most important, what can we do about it?

Join us on May 11th for this colorful, engaging and important talk. Come early for great goodies, fun conversation with friends old and new, and really cool and accessible science.

You can subscribe to Dr. McDowell’s monthly space report here:

http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/jsr.html

To learn more about the Gloucester Area Astronomy Club, see the website at http://gaac.us, our facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/gaacpage, or follow us on twitter, @GAACster. Come see us! No special knowledge or equipment is needed to have a great time. There is no cost.

Have you heard?? Backyard Growers is hosting the first annual Gloucester Grow Fest!

Join us at Burnham’s field on Saturday, June 2nd to celebrate healthy eating, green living, and warm weather! There will be garden tours, art projects, yummy food, games, live music, community yoga, and more! This event is free and has something for people of all ages. See you there!