Man About Canton: Downtown Homecoming Block Party

DID YOU KNOW…

Canton’s sixth annual homecoming celebration is coming up on Saturday, September 25. It will get underway at 8:30 a.m. with the annual Reebok/Canton Homecoming Road Race, which starts and finishes at Canton High School. This year’s race, which has a 7:30 a.m. registration time, will feature a 5K and 10K, a wheelchair race, a challenge for local health clubs to enter teams for the 5K race — the winning club will earn the title and trophy for “fittest sports club” — and a mile-long fun run for children under 13. Julie Quinn’s Silent Auction Committee encourages members to help support the race by contacting her regarding donations at 781-821-3499 ext. 101 or e-mailing jquinn@clarkeschools.org. The annual parade from Canton High to the downtown business district will step off at 4 p.m., followed by the gala homecoming block party, which will feature outdoor dining, free amusement rides, a carnival and live entertainment until about 9 p.m. It is expected that thousands of people will attend the festivities.

Moving on to other matters, be prepared for delays if you drive on Route 24. There is a large repaving job going on that will not be finished until 2011.

The Wall Street Journal is now the largest newspaper in the United States. USA Today, whose daily circulation now averages 1.83 million, is second.

Kicking a football seems to be paying off these days. The number-one kicker in the NFL is Sebastian Janikowski of the Oakland Raiders, who is paid $16 million over four years, including $9 million guaranteed.

Congratulations to the personable and popular Tom Jenkins, who has retired as a Council on Aging bus driver. The appreciative seniors are going to honor him with a pizza party at the Senior Center at 12 noon on Tuesday, September 22.

The third annual Ricky Shannon Field Day will take place this coming Saturday, September 18, from noon to 6 p.m. at Canton High’s Memorial Field. It will include a DJ, raffles, food, and music by Easy Access.

Paul Fireman, the founder and former CEO of Canton-based Reebok who sold the athletic footwear company to Adidas for $3.8 billion in 2006, is now the chairman of Fireman Capital Partners, a Boston private equity company.

The Canton selectmen have awarded the streetlight and maintenance contract to Coviello  Electric and General Contracting Company.

Bank of Canton has donated $5,000 to My Brother’s Keeper, a volunteer, non-profit Christian ministry serving struggling families in southeastern Massachusetts. Based in Easton, My Brother’s Keeper delivers food, furniture, and household items free of charge to those in need. The organization does not accept any federal or state funding and depends solely on private donations to maintain its operation.

Those of you who are amateur farmers will be amazed at the records at this year’s Marshfield fair. A pumpkin grower from Johnston, Rhode Island, set a fair record with a pumpkin that weighed 1,105 pounds, and another grower brought one in that weighed 973 pounds. Not to be outdone, a watermelon grower from Connecticut submitted watermelons weighing 113 and 115 pounds.

The Canton High football team will play an 11-game schedule this year, with non-league games against Weston (away) and North Quincy (home). Other home games will be against King Philip, Sharon, Franklin, Oliver Ames, and Mansfield. Away games include Attleboro, North Attleboro, Foxboro, and archrival Stoughton on Thanksgiving Day. MAC hopes the Bulldogs have a great year and beat the Black Knights in the process.

Speaking of CHS sports, all of last year’s sports have been retained for this coming year, and MAC notes that fees have been increased from $100 to $125 per sport with a family cap of $500.

MAC sends condolences to the family of Richie Sarra, who recently passed away at his Sherman Street home at the age of 88. He lived in Canton most of his life and was an Army veteran of two wars, a renowned businessman, horseman, Canton historian, and longtime registrar of voters.

Canton’s Greg O’Brien, a graduate of Xaverian Brothers High School, has been named one of the four co-captains of the Bentley University football team. Greg is a 6-foot, 230-pound senior linebacker who started the final seven games last season and finished with 33 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

Finally, if you commute to work each day, you will be interested in learning that according to a recent Gallup Poll in the Patriot Ledger, the average commute time from home to work for Americans is 23 minutes, while 19 percent of U.S. workers spend more than half an hour getting to work, and 3 percent commute more than an hour each way.

Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.

This is all for now folks; see you next week.

Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=2697

Posted by Joe DeFelice on Sep 16 2010. Filed under Man About Canton, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.