Meet Alex Patriquin! He's part of the family business at the Cass School of Floral Design here in Watertown. We talk about the beginnings of the floral shop with his Armenian immigrant refugee grandmother (and her earlier venture of putting a lamp in every dorm room in Boston), some of the stories over the more than 75 year history of the three generation female-led business including growing up with his mother, Faith Cass, being the leading florist in the world (winning international floral design competitions), decorating the White House for Christmas and teaching in over 70 countries, Alex's own silicon valley journey (with his own company being in Y Combinator), how Cass has recently shifted its focus to education (though they've already trained thousands of florists since 1979), their sustainability and accessibility mission and goals, and more.

Find out more about the Cass School of Floral Design at cassflowers.com

Live podcast events are coming back in September!

The first Creative Chats of the season is on Friday, September 5th and the first ever Watertown’s Open event is on Friday, September 12th. Come join in the conversations!

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on.

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

This is a conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel from WCA-TV to discuss things that have happened during the past month in Watertown through key moments, success stories, and important numbers.

Links:

City Website Page for Trash Strike Updates

City Manager's Interview on the Trash Strike

Special City Council - July 24th

WCA-TV Public Hearing - July 22nd

Arsenal Park Permits

Watertown Arts Market

Walker Pond

City's Sustainability Webpage

City Council - July 8th

Faire on the Square

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on.

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

Meet Gary Beatty! He's the Executive Director of the Watertown Boys and Girls Club. In this conversation he shares about his experience growing up in Northern Ireland, his love of football (soccer) and how it led him to the US, and his professional path that eventually landed him at the Boys and Girls Club. Then we dig into all the programming at the club, how it operates, its impact on community kids and families, and its brand new Kid Connect licensed after school program.

Find out more about the Boys and Girls Club at watertownbgc.org

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on.

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

Meet Sara Keary! She runs Caregiver Counseling and Consultation here in Watertown along with being involved with the community in other ways. We talk about her early years growing up with a mother who was director of a homeless shelter and spending time around that environment, facing and overcoming her own health challenges at a young age, her path to social work and specializing in work with older adults, her turn to focusing on the caregivers of aging people and end-of-life planning with an example of a particularly powerful story that shaped her forever, and we end with her involvement in the Watertown community from being a library trustee to Kearyoke.

Find out more about Sara's Caregiver Counseling and Consultation at caregivercc.com.

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on.

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

Meet Rita Cleary! She's the activities coordinator at the Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center here in Watertown. In this conversation we talk about Rita's career path in management sciences, traveling the world for her personal explorations on the big questions in life, what the Brahma Kumaris center does and how it came to be in Watertown, and it's mission and outreach to the community.

Find out more about Brahma Kumaris at www.bknewengland.org

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on.

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

This is a conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel from WCA-TV to discuss things that have happened during the past month in Watertown through key moments, success stories, and important numbers.

Links:

City Council - June 10th

City Council - June 24th

School Building - June 18th

WCA-TV Public Ascertainment Hearing

North Branch Library Report:  https://watertown-ma.gov/1084/City-Manager-Updates

Watertown 400:  https://watertown-ma.gov/1528/400th-Anniversary-Advisory-Planning-Comm

Water meters:  https://watertown-ma.gov/995/Water-Meters

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on.

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

This is a recording from a series for the podcast at the Mosesian Center for the Arts called Creative Chats. This conversation was with Arto Vaun, Executive Director at Project Save Photograph Archive, musician, and poet. The topic revolved around finding optimism and creative opportunity in life's hardest moments.

Find out more about Arto and Project Save at projectsave.org
Find Arto the musician at artovaun.com

Listen to my first podcast conversation with Arto here

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on.

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

Meet Xin Peng! He's involved in many things in Watertown including chairing World in Watertown, sitting on the city's Human Rights Commission, running the Chinese American Association of Watertown, and many other things. 

In this conversation we dig into Xin's youth on a rural farm in China and how personal freedom and other factors led him to come to the United States, his passion for community organizing and wanting to strengthen multiple communities here in town, food justice and his two-sided east-west perspective on consumerism, and why Watertown feels like home.

Links from Xin:

World In Watertown: https://www.worldinwatertown.org/

Chinese American Association of Watertown: https://www.caawatertown.org/

Watertown Human Rights Commission: https://www.watertown-ma.gov/1195/Human-Rights-Commission

A few programs that our community members can participate immediately:

Watertown Welcomes All -  A Safe Space Project: https://forms.gle/5K5hW4z5g3pxFxp78

Watertown Welcomes Immigrant: https://forms.gle/Vs93b2HirLxEmR8d6 

Other Watertown Programs: https://forms.gle/wTrAyMmm3wMhLYq1A

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on.

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

This is an arts and culture roundtable episode where we talk about things that have been going on in Watertown arts and culture recently, what's coming up, hidden gems, and more. The discussion was with Allie Fry (Watertown Free Public Library, Programming Librarian), Liz Helfer (City of Watertown, Public Arts and Culture Planner), Kristen Kenny (Chair of the Watertown Cultural District), and Lydia McCoy (Watertown Senior Center, Director for Senior Services).

Links!

Arshile Gorky "Passage" mural by Brandon Gaia Marshall

Tipsy Tea Party

Canadian American Club

WFPL Summer Reading

5th Watertown Arts Market

Community Sculpture Walk

Earfull Series

Archy LaSalle artwork at library

Mosesian Center for the Arts Summer Stages and Studios 2025 

Summer Concert Series

Senior Services Job Openings

Mt Auburn Summer Solstice 2025

WFPL Summer Reading Kickoff - Grace Lin Event

Creative Chats With Guest Arto Vaun

New Watertown Cultural District Website: watertownmaculture.com

WFPL Website: watertownlib.org

WFPL Newsletter Signup

Senior newsletters here

Senior Serivces website

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on.

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

This is a conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel from WCA-TV to discuss things that have happened during the past month in Watertown through key moments, success stories, and important numbers. 

Links:

School Building Committee - May 21, 2025

Discover Coolidge

Commission on Disabilities - May 28, 2025

Arsenal Park Ribbon Cutting

Pequossette Recreation program

Watertown Farmer's Market

watertown-ma.gov

wcatv.org

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on.

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.