We hope you’ll join us at the Wayland Festival, which will be held on Saturday, October 3, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Wayland Town Center. (Rain date is October 4.) We’ll be marching in the parade, which starts at 10:30 a.m.!

Highlights of the day include food stores and trucks, table displays, vendors selling artwork and crafts, and other activities to celebrate our many cultural traditions. There will be performances by the Wayland High School Honors Ensemble, the Dwayne Haggins Band, the Kathleen Parks Band, and other acts to be announced as they are finalized.

Youngsters (or the young at heart) can enjoy the roaming railroad, face painting, bubbles, balloon sculptures, inflatables, and the ever-popular Touch a Truck.

For more information, visit the festival website.

The First Parish Pantry Garden will once again benefit from Stop & Shop’s Bloomin’ 4 Good Program. For the month of September, the Pantry Garden team will receive $1 for every specially marked bouquet of flowers sold at Wayland’s Stop & Shop. The Stop & Shop program supports community efforts to fight hunger.

In late summer, our Pantry Gardeners sell garlic and flowers at Russell’s Farmers Market. Proceeds buy CSA shares from Stearns Farm in Framingham. This produce is in turn donated to local food pantries.

First Parish Church in Weston will host a summer movie nights on Aug. 20, both at 7 p.m. Bring your own blanket, lawn chair, sleeping bag, or other lounging gear; the movie will be started as soon as it’s dark, but folks are invited to gather starting at 7:00 p.m. to get settled.

You are welcome to BYOD — Bring Your Own Dinner  —  whether from home or a Door Dash delivery! Sometimes folks order pizza or other food to be delivered. Come to church a little early (with cash or Venmo) if you’d like to join a group order.

The event will be held regardless of weather. If it’s nice, it will be outdoors on the playground. If there is rain, it will be indoors in the Parish Hall. If there is a heat advisory, it will be held in the air-conditioned Chapel. If held indoors, the movie is at 7:15 p.m.

Check the First Parish Church in Weston website for the name of the movie to be shown. The church is located at 349 Boston Post Road, Weston. First Parish Church in Weston is one of the churches in our Summer Service Consortium.

Within sight of the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry, located at First Church Roxbury, are the Madison Park Vocational and the John D. O’Bryant High Schools. Walk just behind their courtyards and you’ll find yourself in an art gallery! Featured on the walls in back and in the middle of the campuses is a hidden treasure, familiar primarily to students and faculty.

On July 25, from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. at First Church Roxbury, 10 Putnam St., join a tour to explore public art by the graffiti writers, muralists, and visual artists whose work speaks to a contemporary vision that encompasses beauty, activism, arts education, and the important work of mentoring Boston’s up and coming young artists. The walking tour (.75 to 1.2 miles) will be on mostly flat streets. There are some stairs.

The tour will be led by D Walters, Arts Liaison, Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry. Tickets may be purchased here.

Do you enjoy second-hand shopping for the sustainability aspect – and let’s face it – the great prices? Check out the Good as New Shop at First Parish in Sherborn, 11 Washington St. The shop is open year-round, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays. (On the first Wednesday of the month, it is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) The shop accepts donations and consignments.

The team takes great care in accepting items for sale, whether donated or consigned, ensuring that every item in the shop meets high standards. The shop features clothing, accessories, household items, collectibles, and more.

Each purchase at the Good as New Shop positively impacts our community. When you choose to shop second-hand, you’re helping the environment by giving quality items new life and keeping them out of landfills.

The shop holds half-price clearance sales held five times a year, at the end of each season. These sales offer unbeatable deals. Items that don’t sell are donated to local thrift shops to keep the sustainable initiative moving forward.

For more information, visit The Good as New Shop website.

First Parish in Sherborn is one of the churches in our Summer Service Consortium.

Photo by Imad Alassiry on Unsplash

Join MetroWest Climate Solutions on June 16 at 7 p.m. for a free webinar on the powerful connection between keystone plants and the insects that depend on them. You’ll learn how to implement “Soft Landings” – a habitat design and management strategy focusing on creating drought-tolerant mini-ecosystems beneath native trees to support pollinators throughout their life cycles. The session will also explore examples of fascinating bee/plant relationships and learn how keystone plants function as foundational species in our ecosystems. Site preparation methods, herbicide considerations, and building a resilient plant matrix of sedges, grasses, and flowering plants will also be covered.

Our speaker, Heather Holm, is a pollinator conservationist and award-winning author of four books. Heather’s expertise includes the interactions between native pollinators and native plants, and the natural history and biology of native bees and predatory wasps. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and many local publications.

To register, visit metrowestclimatesolutions.org.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Wear your walking shoes and plan to make it a day in The ‘Bury! This expanded tour will explore public art and places of note in the Sugar Hill and Fort Hill areas of Roxbury that border on Jamaica Plain and Dorchester. You’ll see the latest public art installations at Malcolm X Park, visit the famous Eternal Presence sculpture, hear the story of the first Black nurse at the Dimock Health Center, learn about Roxbury’s history as a brewery town, and see the outdoor sculptures and murals at Roxbury Community College.

The tour will be led by D Walters, arts liaison at the Unitarian Urban Ministry.  She leads the organization’s arts and humanities programming, which celebrates the cultural heritage of Boston by hosting community-centered performances, workshops, and exhibitions.

The ramble begins and ends at the First Church in Roxbury, 10 Putnam St., Boston. The church is the headquarters of the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry.

Photo by Jakob Rosen on Unsplash

Please join First Parish in Wayland for a fun and kid-friendly yard sale on June 6, 9:00 a.m. – 1 p.m. The church is located at 225 Boston Post Rd., at the intersections of Routes 20, 27, and 126.

The sale will feature antiques, jewelry, accessories, books, puzzles, decor, and a bit of furniture. Please plan to pay with cash. Kindly bring your own bags.

Twenty percent of sale proceeds will be divided evenly between two local food banks: A Place to Turn and Open Table.

Parking: Parking in the First Parish lot is very limited. Please park at the Trinitarian Congregational Church or the Town Building across the street.

Rev. Samuel Parris lived in Wayland after leaving Salem, having played a central role in the infamous witch trials. Generations of commentators have delighted in depicting him as an arch-villain. What exactly did Parris do during the witch trials – and not do? What was the situation in the Village that resulted in such an avoidable tragedy? How did he end up in Wayland and in the Noyes-Parris House, the oldest house in our town?

Marilynne K. Roach, writer, researcher, illustrator, and author of “Six Women of Salem,” will address these questions and more. This presentation follows the brief annual meeting at First Parish of the Wayland Museum and Historical Society, from 7 – 7:30 p.m. Members of the community are invited to join for the presentation. RSVP here.

First Parish is located at 225 Boston Post Road in Wayland, at the corner of Routes 20 and 27.

Bike Collection!

On May 16 (9 a.m. – 1 p.m.), MetroWest Climate Solutions is hosting a bike drive. Bring us your old, tired, or unneeded bike to Wayland Town Center, behind Ace Hardware, 70 Andrew Ave. The bikes will be delivered to the Lowell Bike Connector.

The bikes will be fixed up and then distributed to kids and adults in need of low-cost, local transportation. (Please take severely rusted bikes that have been left outside to your local metal recycling bins.)

The Bike Connector’s mission is to provide the Greater Lowell Community with safe and affordable bicycles. The Bike Connector grew out of high school students’ needs for affordable transportation to school, work, and activities.  The Bike Connector is also a bike shop where one can learn how to repair a bike and take bike riding classes.

Registration is optional but it will help us plan. Click here to register.

MetroWest Climate Solutions aims to inspire sustainable, equitable communities by hosting programs that address the climate crisis. First Parish in Wayland, First Parish in Lincoln, First Parish Church in Weston, First Parish in Framingham, CFREE Lincoln, and Energize Wayland are member organizations.

Photo by Katja Ano on Unsplash

On April 18, 1775, William Dawes rode from Roxbury to warn American colonists that the British were marching west from Boston. Come to the First Church Roxbury at 10  Putnam Street, home of the UU Urban Ministry, to join the celebration with breakfast, a re-enactment of the ride, historic talks, and even a historic trolley ride. All events are free.

The Roxbury Collaborative has hosted the re-enactment of the William Dawes ride since 1992. The Collaborative is a coalition of veterans, historic, and community groups, along with the First Church of Roxbury, the Dillaway-Thomas House, and individuals who love history.

Photo: Grant Wood’s Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

Trees are one of the simplest and most powerful climate solutions in our communities. They cool neighborhoods, reduce energy use, clean the air, absorb stormwater, and store carbon—making cities and suburbs healthier and more resilient as the climate changes.

Research also shows that living near trees improves mental and physical health, reducing stress, heart disease, and depression while supporting children’s learning and development.

Yet in Boston and many surrounding suburbs — part of a growing urban heat island — tree canopy is unevenly distributed. Neighborhoods with fewer resources often have fewer trees, leaving residents with less protection from heat and pollution.

Join us for a free webinar to learn how growing our urban forest can help address climate change and strengthen communities across Boston and its suburbs. To register, visit metrowestclimatesolutions.org.

Our Speaker: David Meshoulam is executive director and co-founder of Speak for the Trees (treeboston.org). The organization works with Boston community members to plant, preserve, care, and advocate for trees and to expand the tree canopy to rebuild resilient neighborhoods and safeguard the health of all residents, repairing historic injustices that persist today as environmental inequities in urban communities. The organization has earned four stars – the top rating – on Charity Navigator and was recently awarded the 2025 Innovator Award from the Social Innovation Forum.

Photo Courtesy Speak for the Trees