The evolution of a ballpark
The DNA for Worcester’s Polar Park includes ideas from Camden Yards more than 3 decades after Larry Luchino, Janet Marie Smith built the iconic Baltimore ballpark
Updated on Jan 04, 2021;
Published on Jan 03, 2021
The diamond at Polar Park now looks like a baseball field with grass in the outfield, three bases, a pitchers mound and home plate.
Janet Marie Smith smiled when she heard the words “designated hitter.”
“I know what story you’re telling,” said Smith, the architect behind Polar Park, as she interrupted Charles Steinberg ,the president of the Worcester Red Sox.
Thirty-two years ago this December, Smith walked into the office of Larry Lucchino, then-president of the Baltimore Orioles, to discuss plans to build Camden Yards.
The Sweet Life brings cotton candy burritos to Worcester Public Market as Canal District’s new candy shop
Updated Dec 28, 2020;
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Cotton candy burritos arrived at the Worcester Public Market with a trip in the spring.
Anisa Oparaku Sbat and her husband, Majd Sbat, visited the market in the Canal District in the spring around the time it opened and before the pandemic. The experience, being surrounded by entrepreneurs under one roof, inspired the couple to chase their dream of opening a candy shop.
Months later, in September, The Sweet Life debuted at the public market, featuring one of the most popular items in the Canal District, the cotton candy burrito.
Creative Cakes Cafe officially opened to customers on Dec. 5.
The husband and wife team, who led separate professional careers before turning their side business into their full-time jobs, originally opened Creative Cakes in the market in February, three weeks before the pandemic hit.
“We persevered until reopening like both small businesses,” the pair said in a joint statement. “After reopening we were forced to do some soul searching as attendance at the market was not what it was prior to the shut down and we knew we had to do something big for a chance to survive long term.”
When a larger space at the market opened up, they went for it, they said. Now, on top of selling baked goods, they also run a coffee shop and serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.
From restaurants to retail: These Worcester businesses are closed Thursday due to Winter Storm Gail
Updated Dec 17, 2020;
Roads within Worcester’s Canal District remained covered with snow Thursday morning, a picture repeated throughout the city as more than 300 plows tried to keep up with Winter Storm Gail.
As Jay Fink, commissioner of the Worcester Department of Public Works & Parks, advised residents to remain off the roads Thursday, many businesses within the city opted to remain closed or open later than usual.
Here’s a list in alphabetical order of all the retail shops, restaurants and other Worcester establishments that took a snow day or allowed for some time to shovel out.
Worcester police investigating theft of menorah from Kelley Square
Updated Dec 16, 2020;
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Police in Worcester said a menorah on display at Kelley Square has been located hours after incorrectly tweeting that the menorah was believed to be stolen.
The Kelley Square intersection has been under construction by MassDOT, transforming from a web of streets into a peanut-shaped roundabout. The intersection is also home to a Christmas tree each season.
In a recent Instagram post, Worcester Public Market wrote that the Dec. 12 lighting of the menorah and tree marked the start of the holiday season.
This year, Hanukkah began on Dec. 10 and ends on Dec. 18.