Greetings dear readers and fine friends and welcome back to the Front Porch for our final April visit of 2021, where we are looking forward to May Day and all those May flowers that these April showers will surely usher in!
We are also looking forward to the opening of several popular local establishments. I was thrilled to see the "Opening April 30" sign in the window of the Olympia on a recent drive through Watch Hill. Such a good sign! We look forward to seeing our pals, Marcia and Jack Felber, and Georgia and Eric Jones.
And, on a recent drive down Atlantic Avenue (which is getting new sidewalks!), we noticed that the Bellones have posted an "Opening April 30" message on the blackboard in front of Maria's Seaside Café, another happy sign of summer and good things to come. After I saw the opening date, I visited Maria's website, which I hadn't visited in a while, and chuckled when I read the following fun item from Peter Bellone, "for the Bellone family."
"Since opening night July 8, 1994, like an Italian opera, we've had some highs and lows, mostly highs! We truly have lots of great people to thank for our success, so thank you! (You know who you are!) Ultimately, our success lies in the patronage of our friends from the community who return season after season. So whether you are from Westerly, Windsor Locks, White Plains or Wequetequock, you're all family."
Booklovers will be happy to know that Deborah Royce's new novel, "Ruby Falls," will be officially released on May 4. I interviewed Deborah last week for a story that will appear in next Thursday's Guide section, but I wanted you all to know that Deborah will also be interviewed by my friend, the Rev. Sunil Chandy, on Thursday at noon on Sunil's popular "Food for Thought" program.
What fun to hear the good news from our Front Porch friend Jason Lin, of Westerly, who gave me a great report just in time since it's still April, the month we celebrate Earth Day. As many readers know, Jason and Sherry Lin's son, Alex, and daughter, Cassandra, along with many of their Westerly Middle School pals, founded the Westerly Innovations Network (WIN team), a student led community service team whose junior members started Project TGIF (Turning Grease into Fuel) in 2008. Jason told me that he just returned from Taiwan, where Cassandra and Sherry are right now (and where COVID-19 cases are very few), and where Cassandra works from home (but always after midnight so she can have meetings with her colleagues in California.) First, Jason said, Disney put together a short video about TGIF which they plan to run this week in between their regular Disney channel programs (link shared below), and then Cassandra was offered a paid Zoom interview with Disney to talk about "Climate Change." The video was filmed on line while Cassandra was in Taipei, Jason said, adding "nice editing without much glitches."
The show, called "In the Nook," is a mini-talk show created by Disney Channel which features young Disney Channel stars hosting and present crafting ideas for kids of all ages. Other popular Disney Channel stars appear as guests occasionally, but guests are more often young kids from around the nation who are being recognized for making a difference in their communities. Episodes often air between commercial breaks on Disney Channel and can also be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNW0kQjZZpo&list=PLiv1IUQDVSNI571evgHFOUJprdGkVTQIj&index=2&ab_channel=DisneyChannel.
Jason said how wonderful it is that so many people are still interested in TGIF, even though the project is now 12 years old!
Best of luck to Front Porch pal Dan McGowan, who has written thousands of stories over the last 11 years about Rhode Island for the Boston Globe with "Rhode Map" (a daily briefing on the Ocean State), and who has begun a new adventure as a columnist for the Globe. Well done, Dan and best of luck.
Well dear readers, remember please, to keep your social distances, mask up, wash your hands, stay safe, be kind, and ciao bella!
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April 26, 2021 at 11:15AM
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Front Porch Chatter: April 26, 2021 | Front Porch News | thewesterlysun.com - The Westerly Sun
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