Revolutionary Valley Regional Tourism Council

Exhibition: A Perpetual Invitation: 150 Years of Art at the Concord Free Public Library
2023-06-04 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-06-03 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-06-02 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-06-01 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-05-31 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-05-30 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-05-28 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-05-27 10:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) and 5 more dates | Concord Museum, Concord Museum, 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
In honor of the Concord Free Public Library’s 150th anniversary, the Concord Museum and the Library have collaborated on a special exhibition featuring the Library’s art collection. Featured objects will include paintings by Washington Allston, N.C. Wyeth, May Alcott Nieriker, Charles Hovey Pepper, Alicia Keyes, and Elizabeth Wentworth Roberts, among other artists, as well as sculptures depicting noted Concord authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Louisa May Alcott.
The exhibition will also highlight Concord’s artist communities, local art collectors, the history of institutions promoting public access to works of art, and the stories of specific artists who lived and worked in Concord.
Curator tours will be offered Friday, March 24, at 11:00 a.m. and 2 p.m. and Friday, March 31, at 11:00 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Free with Museum admission. Members visit free.
Become a Concord Museum member today to visit this new exhibition for free!

Full Bloom V | May 31-June 25, 2023 | Reception: June 3, 3-5 pm | Loading Dock Gallery
2023-06-03 15:00 - 17:00 | Loading Dock Gallery, 122 Western Avenue, Lowell, MA, United States
Loading Dock Gallery
122 Western Avenue
Lowell, MA
Show: Full Bloom V
Show dates: May 31 – June 25, 2023
Reception: June 3, 3-5 pm
From May 31 through June 25, Full Bloom V blossoms with flowers to last year-round. Enter the garden at Loading Dock Gallery in Lowell. Wander among garden-themed art and craft: textiles, photography, ceramics, and paintings by gallery members and artists at Western Avenue Studios.
Full Bloom blooms with possibility. Art ranges from tiny paintings to huge abstracts. Pick out the painted bouquet that is just the right size and color for your home or office. Or wear the colors of the garden with a shimmering silk scarf. Fresh flowers will look even more beautiful in a hand-made ceramic vase.
Flowers bring joy. Come to Full Bloom V and find joyful art for your home.
Full Bloom V runs May 31 – June 25 at Loading Dock Gallery, 122 Western Avenue, Lowell, MA. Open noon-5:30pm, Wednesday-Saturday; noon-4pm Sundays. Reception 3-5pm, Saturday, June 3, as part of Western Avenue Studios’ monthly open house, noon-5pm. For details, visit www.theloadingdockgallery.com.
Loading Dock Gallery is part of Loading Dock Arts, Inc., a 501c3.

Church of the Wild: A Conversation with Victoria Loorz
2023-06-03 13:00 - 14:00 | 97 University Ave, Lowell, 01854, United States
Church of the Wild places Thoreau’s intimacy with nature into a community of spiritual practice. With a fresh look at a beloved community larger than our own species, this book uncovers the wild roots of faith to undergird our commitment to a groaning and glorious earth. Simple practices of sacred reconnection with the land, waters and creatures of our home places invites us to care for the world by falling in love with it. It is an invitation to trust the knowing deep within us that we are an important part of an interconnected relationship with All That Is.
Victoria is joined in conversation by Richard Higgins.
Victoria Loorz, MDiv, an eco-spiritual director and wild church pastor, is focused on spiritual practices that help to restore sacred relationships with the Earth. She co-founded the ecumenical Wild Church Network, a growing group of spiritual leaders on the edges of the Christ tradition who gather outside of buildings, encountering God directly in intimate relationship with the natural world. Victoria founded and leads The Center for Wild Spirituality, (formerly called Seminary of the Wild), a movement hub for fellow edge-walkers who feel called into a new kind of spiritual leadership within a beloved community larger than our species. She delivers workshops and is the author of the award-winning book, Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred.

IN THE WORK | Denise Driscoll | May 6–July 23 | Storage Closet Gallery | Lowell, MA
2023-06-03 12:00 | Storage Closet Gallery, 160 Western Avenue Lofts, Second Floor, Lowell, MA, 01851, United States
IN THE WORK | Denise Driscoll | Storage Closet Gallery | May 6 – July 23, 2023
160 Western Ave, Lowell, MA
Open to the public during Western Ave Studios & Lofts Open Studios and by appointment:
Sat May 6 & Sun May 7, 12–5 pm | Sat June 3, 12–5 pm | Sat July 1, 12–5 pm
Lowell, MA–Beginning May 6, the Storage Closet Gallery will exhibit IN THE WORK by Denise Driscoll presenting paintings that are in-progress and subject to change from day to day. From May through July, large canvases will rotate in and out of the small Storage Closet Gallery as Driscoll works on them in her studio then brings them back to display their progress. Across time, each painting may move through states of loveliness, balance, disarray, and change as paint is layered and marks accumulate. For those who wonder “How long did this take?” a work log with dates and hours of working time will be attached to each canvas.
Here, IN THE WORK, Driscoll invites the viewer to witness her creative process—the dance between uncertainty and control, the familiar and the unknown—as paintings emerge from imagined potential to final realization.
Denise Driscoll’s paintings envision interconnectedness with pattern and exuberant color. Driscoll is a SOLO2017 winner at Bromfield Gallery and a Curatorial Opportunity Grant recipient at the New Art Center. Her work is in many private and public collections including Alexandria Real Estate, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Whitney Veigas, Bancroft Lofts, Stanford University, Emory University Hospital, UMass Memorial Medical Center, Dover-Sherborn Middle School, and Elsewhere Collaborative. Driscoll holds an MFA in Visual Arts from Lesley Art + Design (2007) where she has also taught. Driscoll is currently a cancer patient dealing with the challenging work of treatment. She has found that staying grounded through painting and focusing on her own web of connection with family, friends, and the community at Western Avenue is very good medicine. Driscoll is represented by Fountain Street Gallery, the Loading Dock Gallery, and Art in Giving. She lives and works in the Western Avenue Lofts in Lowell, MA.
The Storage Closet Gallery is a small space for ART/WORK by artists at Western Avenue Lofts located at 160 Western Ave, Lowell, MA and is open during Open Studios, or by appointment.

Tours of Thoreau Farm, the birthplace of Henry David Thoreau
2023-06-03 11:00 - 16:00, 2023-05-27 11:00 - 16:00, 2023-05-20 11:00 - 16:00 | 97 University Ave, Lowell, 01854, United States
Take an inside look at the restored 1730s house listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Wheeler-Minot Farmhouse/Henry David Thoreau Birth House. Locally, it is also known as “Thoreau Farm.” Tour includes the lovingly restored second-floor room where Henry David Thoreau was born in 1817. Visits to the house are by guided tour only. Come learn about the birthplace of Henry David Thoreau and consider lessons about living deliberately that we can learn from his legacy.

American Inheritance: A Conversation with Edward Larson
2023-06-01 15:00 - 16:00 | Concord Museum, Concord Museum, 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Pulitzer Prize winning author Edward Larson joins us for a conversation on his new book American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of a Nation, 1765-1795, in which he discusses how liberty and slavery were intertwined during the nation’s founding.
Professor Larson examines the role of Black Americans during the Revolutionary War and in the many debates over slavery and freedom, highlighting the voices of Black Americans as the most persuasive in the urgency of liberty. He explores the fateful compromises over slavery that took place during the Constitutional Convention and their disastrous effects in the coming decades.
“An authoritative contribution to the dismal history of race in America. … Larson, author of Franklin & Washington, A Magnificent Catastrophe and other acclaimed books of American history, recasts the narrative of the nation’s founding by focusing on vociferous debates about liberty that erupted during three crucial decades of revolutionary fervor. … At a time when rebellious colonists proclaimed their refusal to be enslaved by the British, most saw no contradiction in buying and selling men, women, and children. … Larson’s stirring narrative includes the perspectives of free and escaped slaves, such as James Somerset, who was brought to England by his owner, where he successfully sued for his freedom; poet Phillis Wheatley; and Ona Judge, dower property of Martha Washington, whose escape incited George Washington’s desperate, enraged search for her return.” Kirkus Reviews, October 20, 2022
Forums are supported in part by the Sally Lanagan Fund.
Register online in advance at https://concordmuseum.org/events/american-inheritance/

Art in the Park with Raksha Soni: Sunflower in Watercolors
2023-05-28 11:00 - 13:00 | Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center, Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center, 246 Market St, Lowell, MA, United States
Participants will work to create a sunflower in watercolor with tips and help from the instructor.
Suggested Audience
Ages 10 and Up
About the Artist
After 20 years of diligent work as a software Engineer, Raksha Soni began an epic second act: to follow her true calling for Art. She founded Brush & Paisley in 2017, to bring her art to new audiences. As an artist she is prolific and has had over a dozen exhibitions where she has showcased her signature style; from intricate Mahbubani/Mandala drawings to lush, opulent landscapes that capture the nostalgia and emotion of different places. Along with furthering her own journey as an artist, she teaches young kids and helps them express and harness their creativity and find their artistic voice.
Please call 978-970-5000 to reserve a spot.

Third Annual Robert D. Richardson III Annual Forum: A Conversation with Daegan Miller
2023-05-25 19:00 - 20:00 | Concord Museum, Concord Museum, 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Writer, critic, and landscape historian Daegan Miller joins us with Guggenheim Fellow and environmental writer Sven Birkerts for a conversation on Daegan’s first book This Radical Land: A Natural History of American Dissent and the literary tradition laid down by Emerson and Thoreau that offers a new way of seeing the American past and of understanding what it can offer us for the present and the future.
In partnership with the Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association.
Register online in advance at https://concordmuseum.org/events/conversation-with-daegan-miller/

2023 Eco-film Series
2023-05-23 18:30 - 20:30 | Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center, Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center, 246 Market St, Lowell, MA, United States
Mark your calendars for the last Tuesday of the month, January – June!
Over 60 films have been selected to be screened through our Eco-Film Series. This FREE series is offered annually in partnership with the Lowell Film Collaborative. A special thank you to our venue partner, the Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center, for the February-June screenings.
Please make sure to RSVP. We plan on making a couple of the films hybrid (in-person and online).
Our 2023 line-up ranges from expeditions to the Arctic, the psychological effects of climate change, and fights for environmental justice, to the true cost of the best-selling piece of furniture of all time and the meaning of joy. These exciting films touch on how forces of change affect ourselves and our environment.
Our 2023 film screening dates and film selections are as follows:
January 31, 2023 – Mission: Joy (VIRTUAL)
February 28, 2023 – Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust (VIRTUAL)
March 28, 2023 – Exposure
April 25, 2023 – The Magnitude of All Things
May 30, 2023 – Dam Removal Double Feature (in-person and virtual)
June 27, 2023 – Monobloc

Backyard and Beyond: Working in the Garden
2023-05-23 10:00 - 12:00 | Discovery Museum, Discovery Museum, 177 Main St, Acton, MA, 01720, United States
Learn what plants need to grow and help us take care of the Discovery Woods Garden. We will water our plants, check for weeds, and see how our plants are growing. Be on the lookout for insects that help our plants to grow!

Valley native returns to Andover Bookstore with Ivy League book May 21 at 2
2023-05-21 14:00 - 16:00 | Andover Bookstore, 74 Main Street, Andover, MA, 01810
On Sunday, May 21 at 2 PM, join Ivy League author (and Andover native) Matt Robinson at Andover Book Store (http://andoverbookstore.com) as he discusses his book on the Ivy League (www.lionstigersbulldogs.com) and the lessons he learned from writing and publishing it.
In addition to the talk, Matt will also offer Tr-IVY-a© questions and the chance to WIN a copy of the book. There will also be delicious snacks from the likes of Red Chocolate (https://www.red-chocolate.com).
For those who enjoy discussing books, history, sports, and those who have (or want to have) ties to the Ivy League, the event is sure to be fun and informative, so please join us!

Concord River Whitewater Rafting
2023-05-21 13:00 - 16:00, 2023-05-21 09:00 - 12:00, 2023-05-20 13:00 - 16:00 | UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center, 50 Warren St, Lowell, MA, 01852, United States
“Squeeze into a wet suit, hop into a raft, and hang on! Whitewater rafting on the Concord River in Lowell happens only on weekends in April and May, when rain and snowmelt swell the river, producing Class III and IV rapids. This urban river run, a mere 1.7 miles long, is a high-octane ride over three sets of rippling rapids, including Twisted Sister, a massive bronco-busting wave. Trips include professional guides from Zoar Outdoor; the proceeds support the Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust.” – Boston Globe Magazine
Come join us for early spring whitewater rafting on the Concord River, just 30 minutes north of Boston, Massachusetts. This urban whitewater gem plunges over three major class III-IV rapids – Twisted Sister, Three Beauties, and The Middlesex Dam. When the water level is right, Three Beauties becomes an intensely fun surfing hole. Surfing involves paddling upstream into a wave or hole with the goal to fill the boat with water, splash the entire crew, or maybe even have the boat stand on end. We run this section twice on each Concord River rafting trip and welcome adventurous rafters 14 and older. Participants on this trip may be required to swim aggressively wearing a personal flotation device in rocky, fast whitewater.
A portion of the proceeds from this trip benefits the Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust, working to preserve green space in the city of Lowell.
The Concord River rafting trip is a spring trip only. This trip runs on select weekends, April through May. Additional weekday trips are available for groups of 12 or more. Please call the office for more details and availability.
We meet at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center, located at 50 Warren Street in Lowell, MA about half an hour north of Boston. There is parking available at the Lower Locks Garage next to the hotel.

“My vicinity affords many good walks”; A Saunter Exploring Thoreau Farm’s Biology & History
2023-05-21 11:00 - 12:00 | 97 University Ave, Lowell, 01854, United States
Although Henry Thoreau spent only the first 8 months if his life living in his grandmother’s farmhouse, he would return to Virginia Road time and again throughout his life to visit the scenes of his early childhood.
Join Biologist Amity Wilczek and Historian Richard Smith for a walk around the Thoreau Farm property as they explore the biological and historical importance of the Virginia Road landscape. How has the area changed since the pre-Colonial era? What plants and animals did Thoreau see in the 19th Century and how have invasive plants and climate change altered the world that Thoreau knew?
Amity Wilczek is an evolutionary ecologist and educator who taught at Harvard and Brown before transitioning to Deep Springs College, where over 10 years she served as Herbert Reich Chair of Natural Sciences, Academic Dean, and Vice President. Her work on plant responses to changing environments has appeared in Science, PNAS, Ecology, American Naturalist, and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society among others. Nearly all of her research involves substantial collaboration with undergraduate and pre-PhD co-authors. Amity currently lives in Concord, Massachusetts and serves as a trail steward of the Emerson-Thoreau Amble for the town.
Richard Smith has lectured on and written about antebellum United States history and 19th-century American literature since 1995. He has worked in Concord as a public historian and Living History Interpreter since 1999 and has portrayed Henry Thoreau at Walden Pond and around the country. Richard has written six books for Applewood Books and is a regular contributor to Discover Concord Magazine.

The Marcia Ball Band
2023-05-20 20:00 - 22:00 | Belleville Congregational Church, 300 High Street, Newburyport, MA, 01950, United States
Rollicking, playful, good-time blues and intimate, reflective balladry…her songs ring with emotional depth.” — Rolling Stone
“Marcia Ball plays two-fisted New Orleans barrelhouse piano and sings in a husky, knowing voice about all the trouble men and women can get into on the way to a good time.” — The New York Times
“Fifty years have passed in a flash,” says pianist, songwriter, and vocalist Marcia Ball of her long and storied career. Ball, the 2018 Texas State Musician of The Year, has won worldwide fame and countless fans for her ability to ignite a full-scale roadhouse party every time she takes the stage. Born in Orange, Texas and raised in Vinton, Louisiana, her deep Acadian heritage and a lifetime of absorbing Gulf Coast rhythm and blues is evident in her original songs and the classics she chooses to cover. This has made her a one-of-a-kind favorite with music lovers all over the world. With each new release, her reputation as a profoundly soulful singer, a boundlessly talented pianist and a courageous, inventive songwriter continues to grow. Her love of the road has led to years of soul-satisfying performances at festivals, concert halls and clubs.
Beer and wine available from Bent Water Brewing and Lucille Wine Shop. Snacks provided by Belleville Congregational Church.
Doors open at 7:00 pm. Additional information at www.bellevilleroots.org
