The Sounds of Saugus

By Mark E. Vogler

 

Good morning, Saugus

Part of me wanted to chill out last Saturday at a local coffee shop in Methuen instead of working in Saugus. But I knew I had to be there at the Saugus Middle High School for the First Annual Saugus Community Festival. As a newsman covering Saugus for the past decade, I knew it was going to be a big deal. So, I wound up spending more than four hours milling around in the crowd – observing, talking to people I knew, interviewing folks about their impressions of the festival and snapping a few photos to go with my story in this week’s Saugus Advocate. (Please see “A Town Displays Its Diversity.”)

I’m a regular visitor at the annual Saugus Founders Day in September and the annual Tree Lighting Ceremony and Festivities in early December. Both of those events draw a few thousand people apiece. And I got them on my calendar every year.

I heard one report this week that last Saturday’s Festival drew 750 people. Before the event, I figured it could easily hit 500.

Based on the passion and enthusiasm of the event’s organizers and attendees, I’d say there’s a good chance of doubling that amount next year. And in a few years, we could be talking about another signature event for Saugus – an event that could pack the halls of Saugus Middle High for years to come on a Saturday in March.

Hats off to all the volunteers, from kids to seniors, who helped make last Saturday special for the community – particularly the members of the Saugus Cultural Council and the Saugus 411 Committee, the two groups that agreed last year to merge the Saugus Cultural Festival with the Saugus 411 event.

I know I won’t forget this year’s event. Here’s a “Shout Out” to the wonderful ladies of the Saugus Garden Club who sent me home with a gorgeous floral arrangement featuring pussy willows in a Stoneware Honey Pot. In between writing my stories this week, I got to enjoy a fresh touch of spring in my office – courtesy of the Saugus Garden Club.

 

Saugus United Parish Food Pantry

The Saugus United Parish Food Pantry will be open today (Friday, March 27) from 9:30-11 a.m. at 50 Essex St. in the basement of Cliftondale Congregational Church. The food pantry welcomes all neighbors facing food insecurity on Friday mornings. Volunteers are also welcome. Please call the Food Pantry Office at 781-233-2663 or go to the website (cliftondalecc.org) for details.

 

Legion Breakfast on Fridays

There’s a good breakfast deal for Saugus veterans and other folks who enjoy a hearty breakfast on Friday mornings. The American Legion Post 210 at 44 Taylor St. in Saugus offers Friday morning breakfasts for the 2026 season. Doors open at 7:30 a.m., with breakfast served from 8-9:00 a.m. for an $8 donation. Veterans who cannot afford the donation may be served free.

 

This week’s “Shout Outs”

From Jean Swanson: “I’d like to send a Shout Out to Corrine Riley, Tori Darnell and Vanessa Dellheim along with their committees for organizing the First Annual Saugus Community Festival last Saturday. The festival was a huge success with over 750 attendees.”

From Precinct 6 Town Meeting Member Jeanie Bartolo: “This ‘Shout Out’ is for Laurie Davis, Saugus Senior Director, for being chosen Citizen of the Year by the Saugus-Everett Elks Lodge last week. She so deserves this honor. Every time I see Laurie at the Senior Center she always has a big smile and kind words for me. Congratulations Laurie!”

 

Want to “Shout Out” a fellow Saugonian?

This is an opportunity for our paper’s readers to single out – in a brief mention – remarkable acts or achievements by Saugus residents or an act of kindness or a nice gesture. Just send an email (mv***@*****st.net) with a mention in the subject line of “An Extra Shout Out.” No more than a paragraph; anything longer might lend itself to a story and/or a photo.

 

Protecting retirement assets from AI, tomorrow

Robert Siciliano (CSP, CSI, CITRMS) will be at the Saugus Public Library tomorrow (March 28) from 1 to 3:30 p.m. to offer a free program titled “The Strategic Human Firewall: Protecting Retirement Assets in the Age of AI Deception.” For retirees in 2026, protecting a lifetime of savings requires moving beyond basic awareness. As AI-driven threats like voice cloning and deepfakes become the “new normal,” criminals are bypassing technical perimeters by targeting the Human Blindspot™ — our natural instinct to trust the familiar.

This program deconstructs the predatory “Pig Butchering” phenomenon, where scammers “fatten up” victims through emotional grooming before draining their wealth. By mastering the Triple-A Protocol, attendees shift from “default to trust” to a “verify everything” mindset.

We cover the technical basics — from password managers to multi-factor authentication — to harden your digital home. Learn to transform your personal defense into a Strategic Human Firewall™, ensuring that your retirement remains secure in an era of industrialized deception.

This is a fully interactive, nontechnical session. We’ve stripped away the jargon to focus on practical, real-world strategies you can use immediately. Come prepared to ask questions and engage in a candid dialogue about protecting yourself or your organization’s money and your own peace of mind.

Learning objectives:

• Mitigate the Human Blindspot™: Recognize how psychological “action bias” and manufactured urgency cloud judgment during AI-enhanced scams.
• Identify Pig Butchering Tactics: Detect the warning signs of long-coninvestment fraud and emotional grooming used to exploit seniors.
• Execute the Triple-A Protocol: Implement a mandated workflow — Analyze, Authenticate and Act — to verify every high-stakes digital request.
• Harden Technical Basics: Deploy password managers, MFA and “Out-of-Band” verification to protect Social Security and retirement accounts.
• Neutralize Deepfakes: Establish family code words to defeat AI voice cloning and “Grandparent” kidnapping scams.

Join us at the Saugus Public Library on March 28; brought to you by the Friends of the Saugus Public Library. Seating is limited. Registration is required. Register at www.sauguspubliclibrary.org/events or call 781-231-4168 ext. 3106.

 

News from the Democratic Town Committee

The Saugus Democratic Town Committee sent out an email to its members this week with two “alerts”:

• An invitation to join the Saugus & Friends Resist group tomorrow (Saturday, March 28) for the third “No Kings” standout from 11 a.m. to noon in Saugus Center at the corner of Central and Hamilton Streets. This is a peaceful protest against the Trump administration policies. The group will resume its weekly standouts at the same time every following Saturday. Signs are available or bring your own. Contact sa*****************@***il.com for more information.
• The next Saugus Democrats meeting will be on Wednesday, April 29, at the Saugus Public Library at 6 p.m. in the Community Room of the first floor.

 

Palm Sunday Service & Passover Meal

Cliftondale Congregational Church invites the community to a special Palm Sunday Service & Passover Meal on Sunday, March 29, at 10:45 a.m. The service will be led by Pastor Joe Hoyle and guest Rabbi Nathan Joiner from Rauch Israel Synagogue. It will be a meaningful time to explore the roots of our faith ahead of Easter. This is a free event, and all ages are welcome. Please RSVP to help with planning: of****@***********cc.org.

 

Free Books For Young Readers Next Thursday

The Boys & Girls Club Metro North and The Room to Write have teamed up to give away 100 books for free to young readers next Thursday (April 2) from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club of Metro North’s Saugus Club teen location (aka The Club) in the Square One Mall (1201 Broadway, Saugus). Readers 10 years old and up are invited to “The Club” Teen Center at the mall to meet five local authors, receive a free book signed by the author and to enjoy art activities, a creative community and plenty of sweet treats. This is a free event open to all kids and teens from all communities. No registration or membership is required.

Tweens and teens will meet and get to know five talented authors who are the creative minds behind the books being given away. Some authors will give away two different books. There will be five middle grade titles and three young adult titles with a variety of genres, including middle grade fantasy and fiction, along with young adult historical fantasy and fantasy comedy.

This amazing event is made possible with sponsorship from The Room to Write and Boys & Girls Club of Metro North, and a generous partnership with Whitelam Books. Participating authors: Middle Grade Novels: Lisa Stringfellow (“Kingdom of Dust” & “A Comb of Wishes”); Ellen Cohen (“Searching for Lucky #3002” & “The Case of the Nasty Notes”); and James Riley (“The Dragon’s Apprentice”). Young Adult: Kendall Kulper (“A Time Traveler’s History of Tomorrow” & “Murder for the Modern Girl”) and Laura Brisbois (“The Extramundane Emancipation of Geela, Evil Sorceress at Large”).

There is no registration required for this event. For more information and links to the authors and books, please visit www.theroomtowrite.org/events. For questions, contact Casey Dowd at cd***@***********th.org.

 

 

Coming Spring Attractions:

• Serenity Gardens, April 4, at the library: Craft your own miniature world using natural textures, personal expression and a little imagination. Therapy Gardens will be in the Community Room at the Saugus Public Library on Saturday, April 4, from 10-11 a.m. to guide you through the steps of making your own personal mini garden to take home. Register online at https://www.sauguspubliclibrary.org/events/

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Saugus Cultural Council, a local agency that is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

• Last Call for Town Meeting Warrant Articles: At its next meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 8, the Board of Selectmen will be inserting all of the articles to be included on the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting set to convene May 4. Citizens who want to submit a warrant article need to go to the Town Clerk’s Office at Town Hall to get the petition forms, which require 10 signatures of Saugus registered voters. The signed petitions must be validated by the clerk and submitted to the selectmen for acceptance to be inserted in the warrant. Selectmen will officially close the warrant before they adjourn at their April 8 meeting.
• Books in Bloom at the Saugus Public Library: On Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. both days. This popular event fills both floors of the library with beautiful flowers matched up with colorful books. Sponsored by the New Friends of the Saugus Public Library and Saugus Garden Club, Books in Bloom is an annual event where local flower enthusiasts put together floral arrangements that interpret a book’s title, book jacket or theme. Want to join in? Go to sauguspubliclibrary.org/get-involved/new-friends/ to learn about the New Friends of the SPL. Stay tuned for more details
• Little League Opening Day: Just two weeks from tomorrow – weather permitting – Saugus Little League Baseball will be celebrating Opening Day on April 11 beginning at 10 a.m. at Grabowski Field off of Hurd Avenue, with a special guest – Boston Bruins National Anthem singer Todd Angilly – starting things off. The league will launch its 2026 season with its annual parade, which will leave Belmonte STEAM Academy at 8:30 a.m. Current plans call for boys and girls players, coaches and other parade participants to assemble at the Belmonte at about 8 a.m. The route for the parade (approved this week by the Board of Selectmen) has the Belmonte parking lot as the starting point, exiting toward Adams Avenue, turning left onto Adams Avenue, right onto Central Street and a left onto Hurd Avenue, ending at Veterans Memorial School for the Opening Day Ceremonies. Stay tuned for more details as Little League Baseball gets to celebrate its 75th anniversary in Saugus.
• Student Government Day: Friday, May 1, at 8:30 a.m. in the second floor auditorium at Saugus Town Hall. Here’s your chance to see future Saugus leaders of tomorrow – the kids who are currently students in the Saugus Middle and High School grades – perform in mock sessions of the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee and the Annual Town Meeting. All members of Saugus local government are invited to come and observe, and even share some pointers with the students. The Saugus Business Education Collaborative will be coordinating the lunch.
• Remember The Fallen: Members of the Saugus Veterans Council are hard at work planning and organizing the Memorial Day Parade, which is set for Saturday, May 23. Council members are committed to making this year’s parade and ceremony one of the best-attended in years. That’s a noble goal and an appropriate way to honor all of the Saugus residents who have sacrificed their lives while serving their country in the armed forces over the years. Honor the town’s fallen. Show your support. If you want to volunteer to help or participate in the parade, contact Saugus Veterans Council Commander Steve Castinetti at 781-389-3678.
• Coach T.’s spring track program: Plans are in the works for the Saugus Sachems Youth Spring Track Program for 2026. Here’s the basic information.

Who: Grades K-6^th.

Where: Belmonte Track.

When: 4:00-5:30 p.m., Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays – May 19-June 11.

This program is geared toward new track and field athletes. It will prepare them for the larger-scale summer camp.

Cost: $150 first year, $75 if returning.

For any questions, further information or to register, please contact Coach Christopher Tarantino (Coach T) at 781-854-6778 or ch********************@***il.com