Category Archives: Community Press Releases

MIDWEST SINGER-SONGWRITER SARA THOMSEN IN CONCERT

SARA THOMSENMARCH 5th @ 7pmFoxborough Universalist Church6 Bird StreetFoxborough, MA

FOXBORO – Award-winning singer-songwriter Sara Thomsen will be performing a benefit concert Saturday, March 5 at 7 p.m., at the Foxborough Universalist Church, 6 Bird Street, Foxborough, MA.

Sara Thomsen is a singer-songwriter with a soulful voice, poetic lyrics, and haunting melodies. Thomsen’s home base is in the Lake Superior region of Duluth/Superior, where she has been dubbed in the local press as “one of Northern Minnesota’s best kept secrets.” She is the founder and artistic director of the non-audition Echoes of Peace Choir and the vocal trio, Three Altos.

Her music comes from the heart, and that’s where it takes you. With a voice richer than the best mid-west soil, her songs carry you inward and outward—in, to the particulars of your own life, and out into the shared humanity of us all. Her performance style is easygoing and full of humor and depth, capturing the audience’s full engagement. Thomsen’s music gently enfolds and unfolds the listener.

With four solo albums to her credit, Sing Out! Magazine declared Sara Thomsen’s latest release, Everything Changes, “a powerful collection from a grounded talent.” The album is an intimate portrayal of the heart breaking open and apart, tumbling through transformation with elegance and grace

Highlights include “A Woman’s Place,” a song commissioned for Women’s History Month, and “I Remember These,” a poignant collection of childhood memories and tribute to Thomsen’s grandmother. Songs on earlier releases have won numerous accolades and awards, including winner of the Minnesota Folk Festival’s New Folk Songwriting Contest for “Irene Marguerite” and “Keepin’ the Peace” off her By Breath CD. “Is It For Freedom,” off Fertile Ground, won a Top Finalist award in the Public Domain Foundation’s national Music To Life Contest, created by Noel Paul Stookey (of “Peter, Paul and Mary”) to recognize songs of sociopolitical concern.

To hear some of Thomsen’s music go to her website at www.sarathomsen.com

Thomsen’s concert kicks off a special weekend at the Foxborough Universalist Church as it celebrates the ordination of its minister, Katie Lawson on Sunday, March 6.

Proceeds from the concert benefit the Foxborough Universalist Church.

Tickets for this Coffeehouse on the Common are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and students, and free for those under 6 with an adult.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at www.brownpapertickets.com (Type Sara Thomsen in the search bar) or at Cindi’s Diamond & Jewelry Gallery, 40 Central St., Foxborough, MA (508 543-4943). Tickets will also be available at the door.

Be a Beetle Rancher: A Unique Invitation to the Outdoors

Photo: Beetle Ranchers harvest rootballs for beetle nurseries.
Beetle Ranchers harvest rootballs for beetle nurseries.

The Neponset River Watershed Association seeks your help to raise little, brown, weed-eating beetles, this spring and summer.

Individuals, families, schools, scouts and organizations are invited to protect the Metro Boston natural environment with the help of a battalion of tiny beetles.

According to NepRWA Restoration Manager Carly Rocklen, “We offer a unique opportunity for people to get involved in hands-on, local environmental protection. Participants get to know a local parkland up close and personal, and they attain first-hand experience in restoring that very special environment and bringing back native wildlife and plants. Families work together in the sun and fresh air. It’s a win-win experience for each volunteer and for the Metro Boston environment.”

Raising the beetles helps to boost native plant and animal diversity in the Fowl Meadow wetlands along the Neponset River. By chowing down on the infamous, omnipresent, exotic, invasive purple-flowering plant called “Purple loosestrife,” the beetles help restore balance between wetland species and produce a more wildlife-friendly wetland.

Beetle Ranchers must have: 1) A sunny yard with space to place a kiddie pool that is near a garden hose, and 2) Availability from March through July to participate in project activities.

Sign up to be a Beetle Rancher by contacting NepRWA Restoration Manager Carly Rocklen at 781-575-0354 x303 or rocklen@neponset.org. Learn more about Beetle Ranching at: http://www.neponset.org. View project pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neprwa.

Photo: Beetle Ranchers release beetles into the Fowl Meadow wetland along the Neponset River.
Beetle Ranchers release beetles into the Fowl Meadow wetland along the Neponset River.

This project is implemented by the Neponset River Watershed Association and project partner the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

The Neponset River Watershed Association is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that works to protect and restore the Neponset River and its surrounding watershed lands and waterways. The Neponset River Watershed includes parts of 14 cities and towns: Boston, Canton, Dedham, Dover, Foxborough, Medfield, Milton, Norwood, Randolph, Quincy, Sharon, Stoughton, Walpole and Westwood.