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Delivering bags filled with Holiday gifts including cookies and candy, students from Holliston's Miller Elementary School visited more than 100 senior citizens in Cole Court and Mission Springs to spread Holiday cheer.  This is the fifth year students from Miller Elementary School have volunteered to deliver gifts to Holliston's seniors. 

Hopkinton's traditional Independence Day celebration, which mixes a parade with a water baloon fight, brought hundreds of residents to the downtown area for the event. 

Town locals stocking up on batteries, charcoal, water, and propane, weigh in on the impact of Hurricane Irene.

108 Hopkinton soccer players in the second to eighth grade participated in this year’s Hopkinton Varsity Soccer Clinic.  In its second year, the Hopkinton Youth Soccer Association sponsored this year’s camp and expanded the program to include girl campers and members of the Varsity Girls Soccer team.  Each day boys and girls worked together on the fundamentals of the game: juggling, shooting, passing, dribbling and one-on-one play. “From the first day to the last, there was an obvious change in the skill levels of this group of kids," said boys Varsity Soccer Captain Brian Henise. At the end …

Red Barn Coffee Roasters Cafe, located at Angel's Garden Center in Hopkinton, officially opened its doors Thursday to the delight of customers and owners Dale and Jeff Doherty. Early morning customers streamed through the doors to taste delicious muffins, croissants, pastries and gourmet coffees to start their day. "We are so excited," said Dale. "The people of Hopkinton have been so supportive. We are looking forward to a wonderful year of serving the community."

It has become a tradition for the eighth-grade class to have a last big hurrah at the end of three years at Hopkinton Middle School.  Months of planning by students and staff included choosing a theme, food and music for this year's June 17 party. With the help of parent volunteers, staff and students, the middle school's side entrance, cafeteria and Brown Gym were transformed into a mini-Hollywood.  As students arrived in formal attire, they walked on a red carpet to check in as their hand-prints and signatures hung from the ceiling above them. The cafeteria was transformed into a glitzy …

After a delicious warm meal, Scoutmaster Tom Dawson began the recent Troop 4 Court of Honor by awarding rank advancements, beginning with the first rank of Scout and ending with Life which is the rank before Eagle.  About 13 Scouts also received the rank of Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class and Star. Several Troop 4 Scouts are working on their Eagle projects and will advance to the final rank of Scouting within the year. Nearly two-dozen Scouts received merit badges in fields such as Architecture, Camping, Carpentry, Engineering, Fire Safety, Photography and Veterinary Medicine.  Four …

On their last day of of middle school, Hopkinton eighth-grade students on the Dowd Team were treated to a pancake breakfast by their teachers and parent volunteers. Cynthia Fiore, the French and Spanish teacher and English teacaher Maryellen Grady cooked up hundreds of pancakes.  Parents provided fruit platters, butter, syrup, orange juice and milk, and set the tables. Team leader Tom Dowd welcomed the students and spoke to them about their past three years and how they are now ready for high school.  The students were then served  breakfast. Before heading back for the last few minutes of …

For 16 years federal agents searched for the whereabouts of James "Whitey" Bulger. During that time, FBI agents searched in Hopkinton for the remains of one or more of his victims. In 2001, the FBI investigated information it had that the Hopkinton Sportsmen's Club was considered a possible dumping spot for one or both of the Bennett brothers, whom Bulger is suspected of killing. The information may have come from Bulger himself. FBI agents scoured the grounds at the Sportsmen's Association, says Erica Hendry, who lived in Hopkinton at the time. Hendry, now a Patch editor in Virginia, lived …

There was plenty of excitement for teachers and students on the last day of school in Hopkinton. Photographer Vicki Francis and mom and Hooray for Books owner Mary Murphy took photos at Hopkins and Hopkinton Middle School. Make sure of you haven't already read Lisa Stukel's story (and more photos) about the hopkiins All-School Meeting to check that out too. Have your own last-day-of-school photos? Send them to gene.cassidy@patch.com and I'll post those too. Finally, we encourage Hopkinton Patch readers to give a shout out to the men and women their children had as teachers this year. Sign up …

Twenty-five Hopkinton students took part in the state Parent Teacher Association's Reflections program, whose theme this year was Together We Can. Eleven of those students advanced to national competition and two, Hopkinton High's Helen Gao and Hopkins School's Zachary Ritterbusch brought home prizes in Visual Arts and Film Production.  Here are examples of many of the student works from the competition.

U.S. Flags are abundant on town buildings, private businesses, utility poles, residences and at cemeteries for Flag Day 2011. Photographer Vicki Francis takes you on a photographic downtown tour. If you have flag photos you'd like to show, you can register and add them directly to the site, or send them to gene.cassidy@patch.com and I'll get them up there. Thanks, and have a great Flag Day!

The Ashland Lions Triathlon has gone on for so many years nobody was exactly sure Sunday how many years it has been. "It's up in the teens somewhere," Lions volunteer Roland Houle said as he yelled encouragement to Hayden Rowe Street bicyclists coming up to Hopkinton Town Common, where Officer Phil Powers halted traffic while they rounded onto East Main Street. The fundraiser for Lions' charities, especially eye research, and its programs for seniors and the schools, drew a huge crowd, rain and cold or no. Doug Kennedy, a professor at Virginia Weslyan University, was in Middletown, CT for a …

Laurie Lindsay is energetic and welcoming, exactly like the property she manages on Hopkinton's East Main Street. Laurie cares for the Stone House, property belonging to her former mother-in-law Alice Lindsay. The house, Laurie said, was built in 1790, and has been in Alice's family since 1840. A few years back, Alice told Laurie she wanted the house to look its best. Laurie has cleared out overgrowth, planted new areas, restored sagging walls and used her eye for texture, shape, depth and color to bring it to its present breathtaking beauty. On a tour of the grounds, Laurie notes each detail…

Hopkinton veterans who served the United States from WWII to present took part in Monday's annual Memorial Day parade and events.  Besides marching in the parade, veterans also laid wreaths throughout town at important memorial locations with the help of Hopkinton Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. Veterans were happy to share their stories with  Hopkinton Patch. Navy veteran Ray Drawe recalled sailing around the world on the USS Worcester from 1951 to 1954 during the Korean conflict. Pat Lynch, who volunteered for the Marines in 1951 to serve in Korea, attended his 57th straight …

After Hopkinton Memorial Day ceremonies at the town's cemeteries honored military veterans who died either in war or at home, residents - including honored veterans, Cub, Boy and Girl Scouts, a Police Honor Guard, firefighters, town and state officials and civilians - paraded the short distance up East Main Street to the Town Common. The threatening clouds of early day gave way to brilliant sunshine, and an occasional breeze sent flags fluttering and, especially in the gazebo's shade and the trees' cover, kept the crowd confortable. Dr. Quincy Mosby, who goes by Doc, a senior systems engineer…

Hopkinton's pre-prom festivities began around 2:30 p.m. several homes home around town where large groups of prom-goers gathered for photo ops.   The Grand March at the High School, starting at 4, was the last stop before an evening full of fun. It seemed like the whole  town gathered to see the Class of 2012 pass through the celebratory arch.  In grand style, limos were waiting to transport them to the prom!  

With Memorial Day Weekend upon us, Hopkinton's  Scouting community did its part by replacing the memorial U.S. flags marking veterans' graves at two cemeteries in town. The annual change was led by members of the American Legion who provided the new flags and collected the old ones for ceremonial retirement at which they are burned.