The Parks and Recreation Department is hosting its annual annual Trunk or Treat event in a drive-through edition on Saturday, Oct. 31 from 3–5 p.m, at St. Anne’s Church. Click here to register trunks, or go to lincolnrec.com and register under Fall 2020 >> Special Events. Registration is open until Friday, Oct. 23.
The Lincoln Garden Club is sponsoring a virtual talk by Sean Halloran, Arnold Arboretum’s plant propagator, on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 1:30 p.m. Sean has been instrumental in efforts by the Garden Club and the Lincoln Public Library to preserve Lincoln’s iconic twisting catalpa tree. As the tree is well beyond its expected life span, he is also working with a community group trying to produce a twisting clone of the tree for the library. He will be speaking about those efforts as well as the biology of twisting characteristics in trees. He will also discuss the latest research into tree planting. This topic relates to a proposed community effort to raise a twisted tree from the cloned seedlings. Click here to register for the meeting on Zoom; you’ll then receive a confirmation email with information about joining the meeting.
The First Parish in Lincoln welcomes everyone to a virtual service celebrating the longest night of the year. Join us as we honor the darkness and await the light in community. Visit www.fplincoln.org/events for the Zoom link.
To bring the community together in a time of isolation for a good cause, two L-S students are organizing a youth talent show. Performers will be pre-recorded and the show will take place via Zoom on Wednesday, Dec. 23 at 5 p.m. Adults who watch will be asked to make a $10 donation to Save the Children, a nonprofit focused on helping kids impacted by Covid-19. The goal is to raise $1,000. Organizers hope to have prizes for everyone who participates.
All are invited to watch the show. Click here for the Zoom link, or click here to donate.
Farrington Nature Linc is offering a new Fridays at Farrington program for children from January 15 to February 12 from 2:15–4:15 p.m. Activities (all outdoors and socially distanced with masks) include hiking, art with natural materials, scavenger hunts, exploring around the pond, and more. Registration is open until Friday, Dec. 18. There will be also later series starting in March, April, and May. Click here for more information and registration materials.
To register to perform, email kids4covid.19@gmail.com with names, ages, and talents by Friday, Jan. 29. Donations are always encouraged but none are required to perform or to attend the show — click here to donate.
Videos are due by February 5. If you have any questions or would like to see past performances to get a sense of the format — or if your company has a matching program and you’re interested in getting involved — send an email to the same address. Check back via email for the Zoom link.
Click here for more information.
The LLCT is sponsoring a Zoom fireside chat and photo-sharing session with Lincoln resident and photographer Barbara Peskin about spring birds on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. Spring is a time of renewal, return and migration, and Peskin will highlight spring visitors to our yards, woods and fields, including rose-breasted grosbeaks and a scarlet tanager, a pair of cardinals, black-capped chickadees, pileated woodpeckers, and more. She’ll also play some of the calls and songs of these backyard friends. Along with the spring songbirds will be a few local and special photos. After her remarks, there will be time for questions and conversation. The program is free and open to all, but registration is required.
People of all faiths and people in search of faith are invited to join youth from St. Joseph’s/Julia’s Parish and the First Parish in Lincoln as they present a Taizé service on Friday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. via Zoom. Taizé is a monastic community in Taizé, France with an ecumenical emphasis as expressed on their website, which says the community “wants its life to be a sign of reconciliation between divided Christians and between separated peoples.” A Taizé worship service involves sung and chanted prayers, meditation, a period of silence, and liturgical readings. There is no preaching. This style of prayer has attracted many worshipers from around the globe and from many different denominations. Services are usually candlelit, so please have a candle ready when you join using this Zoom link (meeting ID: 954 7757 9039, passcode: 405331).
The Parks and Recreation Department is hosting a free online chess tournament as part of the Winter Carnival weekend on Saturday, Feb. 27. Registration begins at 8 a.m.; matches run from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. All levels are welcome. You’ll need to create an account at Chess.com to participate. Once you have a username, you will need to join the Lincoln Mass Chess Club. There will be a beginners section (999 and under rapid rating) and a section for those with more experience (rapid rating at 1000 or over). There will be four rounds. Each player will have 15 minutes per match plus 10 seconds per move (rapid 15/10). It will be helpful if you play a few rapid 15/10 matches prior to the tournament so that your rating is fairly accurate. There will be trophies for first and second place for both sections.
On Saturday, Feb. 27 from 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m, the LLCT/RLF and William Jackson Associates will host an ice sculpture demonstration featuring Donald Chapelle, a local artist with 40 years of ice carving experience and founder of Brilliant Ice Sculpture. In addition to showcasing a number of pre-made ice sculptures, which he’ll have on-site, Chappelle will use chainsaws, ice picks, and various carving elements to bring a moose to life out of a block of ice. The demonstration, which takes place on the green at the Mall at Lincoln Station, is a great fun-for-the-whole-family experience (physical distancing protocols will be in place). Twisted Tree Cafe will set up a pop-up shop with hot chocolate and cookies starting at 10:30. Hint: the moose will be the last sculpture on the scavenger hunt (see above).
The Lincoln Family Association and the Kat Chapman Band are hosting a family-friendly acoustic concert and dance party on Sunday, Feb. 28 from 10–10:30 a.m. on Zoom. Costumes welcome! Those who register can pick up a kazoo and glow stick in the Codman Barn ahead of time (one per per child while supplies last; mask required for pickup). Click here for the concert Zoom link.
Farrington Nature Linc is hosting a virtual three-session nature sketching series starting on Tuesday, March 2. Each week, we’ll meet via Zoom with artist and teacher Alex Boersma, a freelance scientific illustrator and designer from Toronto, to learn how to draw natural objects we’ve collected throughout the week. We’ll improve our observational drawing skills while exploring new media: first graphite, then pen and ink, and finally watercolor. No experience necessary.
Classes will meet Tuesday evenings from 6–8 p.m. (the final workshop will go until 9 p.m.). You may attend a single workshop or all three; however, the skills taught in each workshop will build on one another, so organizers recommend signing up for all three. Register online via Eventbrite. The supply list will be emailed once you’re registered for the class (please be sure you have acquired the necessary materials ahead of the workshop).
Join a virtual reading and Q&A with Lincoln’s Ray Shepard, author of Runaway: The Daring Escape of Ona Judge, on Monday, March 8 at 6 p.m. Email dleopold@minlib.net for Zoom invite. This program is recommended for families with children ages 7+.
“On Belonging in Outdoors Spaces” is a free virtual speaker series running until June featuring prominent speakers whose are advancing efforts to strengthen belonging and connection between communities of color and the benefits of time in nature. The series is organized by the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Farrington Nature Linc, The Food Project, Mass Audubon, and The Walden Woods Project.
First up in the series is “Meaningful Nature Engagement in Stressed Populations” with Akiima Price on Wednesday, March 10 at 7 p.m. Her innovative programming strategies feature nature as a powerful medium to connect stressed youth, adults, and families in meaningful and positive experiences. She is a former National Park Service Interpretation Ranger and has worked for national work with environmental and social service organizations. Other speakers in the series will be Evelyn Rydz, Dr. Monica White, and Dr. J. Drew Lanham.
To register for any or all of the presentations, visit www.onbelongingoutdoors.org. Additional support is provided by the Ogden Codman Trust, the Lincoln Garden Club, and the Bemis Free Lecture Series.
St. Anne’s in-the-Fields will host its second drive-in Evensong service on Sunday, March 14 at 5 p.m. During the service, which originates from the monastic hours, the choir offers certain portions while the congregation joins in the prayers, hymns, Creed and responses. In the lower parking lot, each singer will sit in their car with a wireless microphone while Music Director Jay Lane conducts from the upper lot. The singing and pre-recorded organ music are mixed in real time and the results are broadcast over an unused FM radio frequency. Parishioner Tom Vollaro is the sound engineer. This 45-minute service will feature Walmisley’s “Magnificat” and “Nunc Dimittis in D minor,” Wesley’s “Lead me, Lord,” and a hymn everyone can sing together. Read about the choir’s first drive-in Evensong in The Boston Globe.
The Council on Aging invites seniors to a drive-up ice cream sundae cup event on Tuesday, March 16 in the parking lot of the First Parish Church. Please help stagger arrivals by coming at the time that corresponds to your last name (A–G, arrive from 12-12:45 p.m.; H–R, arrive from 12:45-1:30 p.m.; S–Z, arrive from 1:30-2 p.m.). Ice cream sundae cups generously sponsored by the Friends of the COA.
School-aged children are invited to join us for a discussion about racism led by Wee the People, a Boston-based social justice group. Kids notice skin color and sense that it matters, and they have questions about how and why. Together we will explore how racism isn’t just one thing, but a problem with many parts working together — problems that take more than individual kindness to solve. Breaking down the fundamental concepts of skin color, race, racism, and injustice, kids will learn how they can help to notice and disrupt racist systems. Email dleopold@minlib.net to get a Zoom invite.
Whether you garden in sun or shade, learn about how to combine them for best effect in the garden from Joan Butler of Enchanted Gardens. Her gardens have been included in several garden tours and feature a combination of native plants. For a Zoom invitation, please email Lisa Rothenberg at lrothenberg@minlib.net or call the library at 781-259-8465 ext. 202. This program is made possible with funding by the Friends of the Lincoln Public Library.
The First Parish in Lincoln is running a Community Woodland Egg Hunt runs from 8 a.m. on Saturday, March 27 until 8 p.m. on Sunday, April 4. Participants may choose to begin at the Parish House playground or use the QR link to this FPL web page, which has a map giving the general locations of eggs, though you’ll still have some looking to do.