You’re invited to join us on Saturday, June 19, at 3 PM at Dunn Gaherins outdoor patio for the next Village14 party.  If you’re heading to the Juneteenth commemoration, head down to Dunn Gaherins afterward.  We’ll have two special guests of honor that day.

Gail Spector – We’ll be saying goodbye to our old friend Gail Spector who has been a Village14 contributor for many years.  Gail & Dan have just sold their Newton home and are moving to Dennis full time.  Gail will be sorely missed in Newton.  Aside from her contributions to Village14 Gail has been the editor of the Newton Tab, a candidate for School Committee, an author of a book about Newton, and the person most responsible for the Boston Globe’s increased news coverage of Newton – the Newton Report.  Come say goodbye and thanks to Gail and Dan.

Greg Reibman – Village14 was created 10 years ago by Greg Reibman and Sean Roche.  For most of those 10 years Greg is the guy who kept it running.  While the rest of us contribute sporadically and intermittently, Greg kept it going day-by-day, month-by-month, as well as fielded all of the regular tech issues, political issues, personality issues, and content issues whenever they came up … and they did come up regularly.  Greg stepped away from Village14 at the end of this past year but we all owe him a debt of gratitude for creating this permanent community gathering spot.   Like Gail, Village14 is just one of Greg’s contributions to life in Newton.  Greg was the publisher of the Newton Tab and more recently he has been the president of the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce.  Under Greg’s stewardship the Chamber has bloomed and expanded and for the past year has served as a life-line for helping our local businesses weather the Covid storm.  Whether you’re a Chamber member or not I highly recommend that you subscribe to Greg’s informative, timely, and often funny Chamber Email Newsletter that’s full of Newton news.   Come by on the 19th to thank Greg for all he does for our community.

The thing I most enjoy about these Village14 gatherings is meeting Village14 folks for the first time.  Some of them are our readers who read every post and never comment, other are regular commenters or contributors who we’ve never met in-the-flesh before.    Many mysteries may be resolved. Will Matt Lai bring his little friend who shares his avatar?   Adam vs Adam B – will they both be there?  compare and contrast.  Is his name pronounced Buge-K, Bu Gek, or Bug ek?.

These and many other mysteries may be resolved so put it on your calendar and come join us on V14’s Village Day, Sat June 19 3 PM at Dunn Gaherins.  Come complain about zoning or schools or Sean’s posts. Come campaign for your favorite mayoral candidate.  Come gush about the Covid cloud lifting or Salvadore Dali moving to Newton.

I’ll be the beat up guy with the red eyes.  I’m bailing out on the Olympic Trials in Oregon to catch the Friday overnight flight back to Newton because I have my priorities.   Much to my bosses consternation I definitely don’t want to miss a Village14 get-together and neither should you.

Everyone is welcome.  See you there.