A yearlong attempt by the Fourth of July Committee to ban political and other speech that some bystanders might find offensive from the town’s annual parade came to an end last Thursday.

The town needs an additional $2.3 million for the project that will connect its town water system to the Devens water supply, leaving the Water Commission and the Select Board with few good options.

In about two years, if all goes well, the town’s public water will come from the treated wells in Devens. 

A 16-court badminton facility and two landscaping businesses are slated for the commercial district on Ayer Road.

The history of fires in Still River has left neighborhood residents with admiration for the Harvard firefighters who extinguished those blazes. But it has also left some residents reluctant to let the Fire Department burn a house in Still River as a training exercise.

Last week the Environmental Protection Agency set a nationwide standard for PFAS—more commonly known as “forever chemicals”—in drinking water. The latest tests on Harvard’s town water, supplied by two wells on Pond Road, passed all the new regulations, although one of the regulated substances passed by only three-hundredths of a milligram per liter.

Town Administrator Tim Bragan, set to retire July 1, has already left the building, but the search for his replacement is just beginning.

Bids for the water main portion of the project to connect Harvard to the Devens public water system were opened April 16, and the news was not good.

Harvard firefighters provided aid last week when a truck burst into flames after crashing into a health center in Devens.

After a year of piloting a schedule with only four core curriculum subjects, Bromfield middle schoolers will once again have five core subjects next fall. 

At its April 8 meeting, the School Committee unanimously approved a contract for the 2024-25 school year with Whitsons Culinary Group, which has been supplying food to the Harvard schools since late last fall.

Town Administrator Tim Bragan, who is scheduled to retire July 1, told the Press last week that, beginning April 12, he would begin using the 320 hours of time off he has accrued over his 17-year career in Harvard.

More than 250 Harvard voters were already in the Cronin Auditorium when Moderator Bill Barton called the meeting to order at 12:10 pm last Saturday, April 6. People continued to arrive for the next half hour or more, up to the official total of 392, which is more than double the 2023 turnout.

One of the liveliest discussions at the April 6 Town Meeting involved an article that would allow the town to put a lien on the property owned by any resident who ignores charges, fines, or fees related to town bylaws.

Three and a half hours into Town Meeting, voters began debate on the proposed bylaw to create an 8-acre multifamily zoning district on Ayer Road at the intersection of Route 2. 

Shortly into the warrant articles for Town Meeting, April 6, 2024, came a much anticipated moment, a moment awaited by residents at town meetings going back to 1967—the time to pay tribute to the year’s Citizen of Note. This year that is Bob O’Shea. 

The dilapidated Department of Public Works buildings will finally get the attention they have needed for years. Voters at both Town Meeting and the polls approved the request to borrow $9,894,200 to revamp the facility.

Voters at Tuesday’s Town Election approved two ballot questions, but rejected a third, and returned incumbent moderator Bill Barton to office for a three-year term.

MassDevelopment, the state agency responsible for the commercial and residential development of Devens, signaled last week it is ready to work with the Devens Jurisdiction Framework Committee to increase housing at Vicksburg Square, site of an iconic quadrangle of Army barracks.

Barbi Kelley, longtime physical education teacher in Harvard, has received the Joseph McKenney Award for distinguished service from the Massachusetts Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance.