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Pam’s Gardening Tips: Are You a Deadheader?
Pam’s Gardening Tips: Are You a Deadheader?
(26-Jun-25) No, I am not talking about the Grateful Dead! I am talking about deadheading flowers in your garden. If you are like me, you probably have day lilies in your garden which provide a lot of color for a long period in the summer. You can get them to bloom longer by deadheading them correctly.
Make sure that you remove the ovary at the base of the spent flower. Don’t just pull the flower. If you do, it will turn into an ugly seed pod. If you miss a flower and end up with an ugly seed pod, cut the stem down as far as you can. Don’t just cut off the seed pod. More blooms will come later this summer.
Here is the link to a great video that shows daylily deadheading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YH7ELQpZBQ. This time of year, it is hard to keep everything deadheaded, weeded, and watered. But isn’t this what we waited for all winter?
For more helpful hints, join the Boxborough Garden Club. Email Flo Hanover at fhanover10@gmail.com for more information.
Boxborough To Celebrate Fifer’s Day Tomorrow, June 21
Boxborough To Celebrate Fifer’s Day Tomorrow, June 21
(20-JUN-25) Boxborough will gather to celebrate the 57th Annual Fifer’s Day at Flerra Meadows tomorrow, Saturday, June 21. The festivities include a road race, a parade, a volleyball tournament, and an old-fashioned fair with food, music, and booths. The event is jointly sponsored by the Boxborough District Minutemen Company and the Town of Boxborough's Public Celebrations and Ceremonies Committee.
The Fifer’s Day tradition goes back to 1967, when the newly-formed Boxborough District Minutemen Company celebrated the first “Fifer’s Festival” to commemorate local contributions to the American Revolution. While the town of Boxborough did not exist during the American Revolution, namesake fifer Luther Blanchard lived in the portion of Littleton that later became Boxborough.
Here’s what to expect:
Road Race: The Fifer’s Four Mile Road Race begins at 9:30 a.m. at the entrance to Flerra Meadows on Stow Road. The wheel-measured course will cover a four mile flat run through Boxborough. Trophies will be awarded to female and male runners in each of seven age divisions. A free Fifer’s Day T-shirt will be given to the first 100 entrants. Individual registration fee is $25 by June 18 and $30 after that date and on the day of the race (maximum payment per family is $60).
Parade: The parade begins at 11 a.m. at the Blanchard School and ends at Flerra Meadows, the location of the day’s fair and volleyball tournament. The parade will be led by the parade marshal, a person chosen because they have done something exceptional for the town. At the end of the parade, the Golden Fife Award will be presented to a Boxborough resident who has demonstrated long-term volunteer service to the town.
Volleyball Tournament: This year, the tournament will start at 12:30 p.m. There will be three co-ed brackets: Open, Players, and Backyard. The Open bracket is intended for teams of "serious" volleyball players who play or compete on a regular basis. The entry fee is $80 per team; a $200 cash prize and trophies will be given to the first place team. The Players bracket is for teams with some volleyball experience, who may be or have been competing in volleyball league play. The entry fee is $70, and trophies will be given to the first place team. Backyard bracket is intended for teams of neighbors and friends who do not regularly play or compete in volleyball. The entry fee is $60 per team.
Fair: Eat, drink, chat with neighbors, and visit the booths. Starting at noon, hamburgers, hot dogs, BBQ chicken, sausage, soft drinks, beer and hard cider will be available for purchase. Enjoy live music by The Rocky Woods Express and Final Mile. Peruse more than fifty booths and exhibits by both commercial and non-profit organizations, and enjoy plenty of kids’ activities, including a bouncy castle.
For more information or to register for the road race or volleyball tournament go to http://fifersday.org.
Kirby Dolak Retires from Littleton Community Television (LCTV)
Kirby Dolak Retires from Littleton Community Television (LCTV)
(19-JUN-25) After 12 ½ years with LCTV, Kirby Dolak, Video Production Supervisor, retires from a career of service to the residents of Littleton and Boxborough.
The journey started in 1976. Having graduated from Penn State with a Bachelor of Science degree in Parks and Recreation, Dolak set out to make a difference in the administration of park systems, environmental centers, and commercial recreation. Soon after graduating, Dolak secured a position as an Education Assistant at the New England Aquarium. His real goal was a position with the National Park Service, but at the time, they weren’t hiring; so, Dolak pivoted and started to explore the computer industry.
A life-long learner, Dolak completed a certification in programming in a variety of languages and pursued opportunities in technical support for back-office financial applications running on DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) PDP-11 computers. After a number of mergers and acquisitions, Dolak found himself at a crossroads when the industry contracted, shedding 52,000 jobs. And so, at the age of 47, he realized he had to reinvent himself.
Having learned woodworking and construction from both his father and grandfather, he pursued a Massachusetts Construction Supervisors License and started his own business focused on the renovation of older and historical homes, which he still does on a part-time basis. He used that skill set in ways he never thought possible, like partnering with Boxborough architect Becca Edson in re-designing the Boxborough Grange.
Dolak realized that the physical demands of construction work were not sustainable, so once again, he re-calibrated and looked for other opportunities.
Purely by chance, he took a workshop in 2012 at LCTV and found himself in video production. He started out on a part-time basis, covering meetings for Littleton. That evolved into a full-time position as a video production supervisor when Boxborough approached LCTV in 2013/2014 to record Select Board meetings and Annual Town Meetings.
Never satisfied with the status-quo, Dolak pushed the Boxborough Planning Board, Finance Committee and, most recently, the Fire Station Building Committee, to record their meetings. To expand virtual meetings to more boards and committees, Dolak recommended a cloud-based system called “OWL,” used in conjunction with the Town’s Zoom accounts. The OWL technology further improved transparency by and between town committees and Boxborough residents.
Sometimes, it seems like Dolak is everywhere all at once; whether it’s Winterfest, the Memorial Day Parade or Fifer’s Day, Dolak is ever present with his video equipment and camera, capturing special moments in the lives of Boxborough residents.
He produced videos about the Annual Town Meeting process, the Boxborough edition of the 250th Anniversary of Patriots’ Day, a recruitment video for the Boxborough Minutemen, the annual League of Women Voters-Acton Area Candidate Forum, and a host of other projects too numerous to mention here. Check them out on the Town of Boxborough Video on Demand website. https://cloud.castus.tv/vod/boxborough/?page=HOME
While it may appear that Dolak works exclusively in Boxborough, he has had a big impact in his home town of Littleton, as well. In his “spare” time, Dolak designed, enabled and/or installed video equipment at several Littleton facilities, including the new Fire Station, Library, Senior Center, and Alumni Field.
He also worked on the Littleton Senior Follies, earning the nickname “God” for his use of a “God microphone,” which allowed him to “prompt” the senior performers, who froze on stage or forgot what they were supposed to do, without him being seen by the audience.
Dolak’s post-retirement plans include spending more time with Pat, his wife of 45 years, his two adult children and three grandchildren based in Pennsylvania and Oregon. After putting in many long hours at LCTV, he plans to decompress with his passion for photography and woodworking and maybe catch up on all those home repairs he didn’t have time to tackle while working full time.
At Annual Town Meeting in May 2025, Boxborough Town Administrator Michael Johns presented Dolak with a “Lifetime Achievement Award,” which reads in part, “We are so thankful for all that you have done, given of your heart and total dedication to the Town of Boxborough. The level of coverage and media engagement in Town would not be where it is without you.”
Kristin Hilberg, Chair of the Boxborough Select Board echoed that sentiment saying “Kirby has been an important part of the Boxborough Town Hall family, and we’re going to miss him dearly! He’s always ready to help us manage the technology side of hybrid meetings and has been an amazing partner along with BXB-TV to ensure that the public has access to all of the information available to them.”
Boxborough News asked Dolak for any parting words he might have for the residents of Boxborough. He said that over the years, he has observed a lot of interactions through the lens of a camera and respects the passion residents have for issues they care about. He reminds us to keep an open mind to different perspectives and take the long view for the good of the community. Be kind and respect each other.
And as they say in the film industry, “that’s a wrap!”
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