Hometown Weekly is currently seeking exceptional sports writers to cover assignments — high school games in Dover, Medfield, Needham, Walpole and Westwood — on a freelance basis. Hours of assignments are highly dependent upon event schedules, areas of specialization, and photographic ability. This role requires transportation and availability on weekday afternoons.
Hometown Weekly looks back at 25
By Stephen Press
Hometown Weekly Editor
This week, with Hometown Weekly celebrating its 25th anniversary, we’re looking back to March of 1997 to see just how differently home looked when the first edition of our paper (then known as The Home Shopper) debuted.
• A 50-year-old Bill Clinton...
Plow operators discuss the business
By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The saviors of people who hate shoveling and the enemies of kids hoping for snow days, snowplow drivers operate in a unique space — their businesses depend on storms that may or may not happen, with each winter season being different. Looking to gain insight...
Backyard Files: the Wren’s story
By Stephen Press
Hometown Weekly Editor
A few months ago, before the cold precluded our doing so comfortably, I was sitting outside with an icy drink in my hand, enjoying the last of New England’s nice weather for the season.
As I sat, scanning my surroundings as I usually do, I heard...
Hometown Weekly’s finest foliage spots
By Stephen Press
Hometown Weekly Editor
It seems most seasons around New England have their detractors.
While the skiers and skaters among us are loving every moment of the winter, self-identified “summer people” are kvetching about freezing extremities and aching bones. In springtime, as the world wakes itself...
Dance schools deal with COVID changes
Walpole’s Commonwealth Dance Academy used its outdoor space for rehearsals.
By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
As COVID recedes, Hometown Weekly is taking a special look at how some of the businesses in its communities are transitioning back to post-pandemic circumstances.
Not...
Salons, barbershops talk COVID impact
Anthony’s Barbershop in Needham noted how many of their customers used the time they were closed to experiment with new hair styles.
By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
As COVID recedes, Hometown Weekly is taking a special look at how some of the businesses in...
Backyard Files: the global backyard
The exotic-looking scarlet tanager is thought to be rarer, globally, than the wild turkeys we see running around our communities.
By Stephen Press
Hometown Weekly Editor
As a small boy growing up in New England, one of my prized possessions was an old illustrated field...
Restaurants adapt to survive COVID-19
Creating outdoor eating spaces was a huge thing for restaurants that didn’t have them before.
By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
While many businesses have had to deal with the effects of COVID-19, few have struggled like restaurants. From lockdowns keeping their tables empty, to...
Hometown communities rally around Kilian family
The 2021 class of BostonLax All-Americans poses with game MVP's Bryson and Kainen Kilian. Photos by Mike Flanagan.
By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
After a year off due to COVID, one would think that the mood surrounding the eighth annual BostonLax All-American Game...
Funeral homes get back to normal
By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
As COVID recedes, Hometown Weekly is taking a special look at how some of the businesses in its communities are transitioning back to post-pandemic circumstances.
Last September we reached out to some funeral home owners and workers to see how they...
Backyard files: robins in the snow
By Stephen Press
Hometown Weekly Editor
Years ago, when I was a small child, I spent my weekdays alongside my maternal grandmother, Ma, who watched me while my parents worked. In retrospect, those days had an outsized influence on me - it was in Ma’s kitchen where I first would develop...
As COVID wanes, animal shelters wait
By Amelia Tarallo
Hometown Weekly Staff
COVID-19 has changed how we handle most aspects of life. We wear masks when we leave the house. We use a colossal amount of hand sanitizer. Some even work from home. The changes have even inspired many people to adopt a furry friend to keep...
Hometown Weekly prints ludicrous April Fools’ stories
With their weekly publication date falling on April 1 - April Fools' Day - the staff of Hometown Weekly couldn't resist the chance for a bit of fun. Hometown Weekly printed special alternate April Fools' front pages this year - an individualized one in each of its editions - on page three of...
Storm brings differing snow totals
Medfield's Austin Verge and Garrison Schilling serve a customer after they get their generator going.
By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Last week’s snowstorm (the earlier one, which is depressing to write) was believed to be unique in that just a few miles could...
My time dealing with COVID-19
By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Last week, the number of COVID cases in Massachusetts exploded to around 3,000 a day. Unfortunately, I was one of them. But while my experience with COVID-19 was far from among the most harrowing, interesting or even notable ones in the state, I do think...
Backyard Files: the fox story
The gray fox's face is flatter, and could perhaps be described as more feline than that of a red fox.
By Stephen Press
Hometown Weekly Editor
The yips grew closer and closer. Two distinct individuals could be discerned, as though they were in conversation. As...
December snow brings community outdoors
This snowboarder drew plenty of intrigued looks every time he went off a jump he’d made at Needham High.
By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Because of COVID-19 and the subsequent social distancing protocols enacted to slow its spread, this year, partaking in outdoor...
Backyard Files: who?
By Stephen Press
Hometown Weekly Editor
Before I start, I'm going to have to apologize in advance for the amount of onomatopoeia in this story. Typically, I'm not one who relishes rendering (or reading) abstract sounds in print, but really, there's no other option here. How else is one to describe...
Hometown Weekly voters head to polls
A Biden supporter stands just outside of the senior center on Ice House Road.
By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
While record numbers of Bay Staters voted in the November 3 election by mail due to COVID-19, scores of voters still headed to the polls...
