Holiday Hours: Patriots Day

Monday, April 21, is Patriots Day, a state holiday marking the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord that began the American Revolution. The day has been celebrated on the third Monday in April since 1969.

This year mark's the 250th anniversary of what many consider the start of the American Revolution with the "shot heard round the world."

It was on the morning of April 20, 1775, that Paul Revere and other riders began the alert across and beyond Massachusetts Colony that troops were planning to advance from Boston to the towns of Lexington and Concord. They were to seize a cache of gunpowder and arms and capture revolutionaries Sam Adams and John Hancock.

(Local legend claims that Israel Bissell, later of Hinsdale, rode all the way to Philadelphia, but most historians dismiss it.)

Previous attempts to capture munitions depots from the increasingly belligerent colonials had failed, so Lt. Col. Francis Smith led some 700 British regulars on what was supposed to be a secret mission against the nearby towns. Colonial spies were aware of the expedition and some local militia was mustered on the Lexington green the night before.

Whether it was a colonial or soldier who fired "the shot heard round the world" on Lexington green is unknown. However, word spread quickly that shots had been fired at Lexington and more colonials headed to Concord. The army took the town but came under fire at North Bridge and beat an ignominious retreat to Boston.

Adams and Hancock evaded capture and much of the arms had been scattered to surrounding towns long before the army arrived. As reports of the events spread throughout the colonies, supplies and reinforcements, including George Washington, began arriving to relieve Boston. A year later, the British army would leave on March 17; the event is commemorated in Suffolk County as Evacuation Day.

Minute Man National Park in Concord and Lexington has several events planned this weekend and Monday.

Patriots Day is also known as "Marathon Monday" because the Boston Marathon, the world's oldest annual marathon, has traditionally been run on that day. The 129th marathon starts off at 10 a.m. in Hopkinton (where it's started the past 100 years) with more than 30,000 entries. 

(per WBUR) Apparently, King Edward VII wanted the marathon for the 1908 London Olympics to start at Windsor Castle, which meant 385 yards had to be added to the standard 24.8 miles. The new 26.2-mile marathon distance wasn't adopted until 1924 by the Boston Marathon, when it became the last test for the Paris Games for Olympic hopefuls that year. Hopkinton then became the starting point over Ashland. 

The Red Sox host the White Sox at 11:10 a.m. at Fenway.

Saturday's temperatures could hit 80 but Sunday and Marathon Monday will be cloudy, breezy and cooler in the high 50s, low 60s.

Open:
BRTA operating on regular schedule; office closed
Restaurants, bars, convenience stores, supermarkets, retail stores, liquor stores
Banks may open if they wish; all markets are open
Federal offices open: mail is delivered

Pagliarulo, Strout Win Seats on Dalton Select Board

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
08:56PM / Monday, May 12, 2025

The election saw about a 20 percent turnout of registered voters.

DALTON, Mass. — Voters returned one of two incumbents to the Select Board and one newcomer on Tuesday. 

 

Antonio "Tony" Pagliarulo won one of the two seats in the four-way race with 577 votes for the board, outpolling the other three candidates by 107 votes. Coming up second was incumbent Marc Strout with 486. 

 

William Drosehn, chair of the Finance Committee, was 13 votes behind at 473. 

 

Robert Collins, who won a seat by 13 votes in February's special election found himself out of the running this time with 459 votes. 

 

Pagliarulo expressed his gratitude to the voters and hopes that he and the board can do a good job by them.

"Everybody's going to be in office, even though the other two candidates didn't make it. We have a Finance chair and we have a person on the Planning Board, so hopefully we'll work in harmony together," he said. 

Collins holds a seat on the Planning Board; Pagliarulo is a member of the Green Committee and the Public Safety Facility Advisory Committee.

The elections saw above-average voter turnout, with 1,001 individuals voting in person at the Senior Center, and 83 mail-in ballots were counted after the polls closed, for about 20 percent of registered voters. 

Residents lined Field Street with signs in support of their preferred candidates as some played lawn games to pass the time. 

When the unofficial results came in, several of Strout's supporters cheered as they left the Senior Center. 

Strout said he looks forward to serving on the board for another three years and will do so with honesty and integrity. 

This will be Strout's fourth term. When running for Select Board nine years ago, he didn't think he would ever get to this point. 

"But when you get in here and you're able to serve the people and look out for them and take care of the small things for them, whether it's a pothole on their street or the street light out, those are the things that are important to people," Strout said. 

"We got a lot of work ahead of us and bringing people together to get things done, and that's what's going to take for all of us to work together." 

Although losing this race, Collins intends to stay involved in the town, continuing his work on the Planning Board and Storm Water Commission. 

When asked whether he would request a recount given the close results, Collins said he does not intend to and emphasized his trust and faith in the town clerk’s office and the volunteers who handle the counting process. 

Drosehn said he does not believe the results reflected the true vision of the town’s people, feels there was an "anomaly" in the results, and plans to call for a recount.

He said town voters prefer to have someone on the board, "one in particular," that he thinks doesn’t approach the issues.  

Unofficial results for other contested races were: 

The Planning Board had three candidates for its two open seats. Voters elected Dennis Croughwell, who had 729 votes, and Donald Davis with 456. David Martindale had 434 votes. 

The Library Trustees had five candidates for its four available seats. Voters elected Anne Ronayne, who had 1,263 votes, Thomas Condron with 710 votes, Leonardo Quiles with 623 votes, and Sherri Belouin with 576 votes. Michael Jamrog had 356 votes.