By CHRISTINE GALONE

For many people, summer is a season to slow down, spend time with family and friends, and take in the beautiful but fleeting sights, scents and sounds of the great outdoors. It’s also a good time for everyone to explore new opportunities.

 

In Grafton, there are an abundance of opportunities this summer. People can even embrace opportunities to enhance or share their artistic skills, broaden their cultural horizons, and improve their health.  

 

To begin with, there are exciting opportunities for artists and photographers. Grafton Arts, Inc. is calling for entries for its 2023 Small Stones Festival of the Arts. Two-dimensional art/photography submissions will be accepted until the night that the 500th entry is received. For more information about the festival, which was supported last year by local businesses including Gaudette Insurance, Homefield Credit Union, JCSI Corporate Staffing, Jubilee Chocolate, Sydney Padgett of Mathieu Newton Sotheby’s Realty, Pepperoni Express, Roney Funeral Home, Kathleen Schaker of Touchstone Crystal, Theroux Dental Associates and Town House Tavern, visit the festival’s website, smallstonesfestival.org.

This summer, ice cream and coffee lovers have even more places to visit. Just before the season began, the Grafton Grill & Crust owners Steve and Lori Belfiore opened a new ice cream and coffee café. Uncommon Cow is located at One Grafton Common. Among other menu items, including Acai bowls, it serves ice cream by Bliss Dairy in Attleboro and coffee from Armeno Coffee Roasters in Northborough. 

The Nipmuc Nation Pow Wow will be held Sunday July 30 with the gates opening at 10 a.m. It will be hosted by the Hassanamisco Band of Nipmuc Nation at 25 Main Street in Grafton. The Nipmuc event, which features songs and dance in a celebration of Nipmuc culture, draws thousands and welcomes the general public.  

Dr. Mary Ellen Curran Rancourt, an audiologist who’s celebrating her business’s fourth anniversary in South Grafton this month, has been offering her patients more appointment options. Hear Joy Audiology, which opened in July 2019 at 43 Main Street, offers a variety of hearing services and products for all ages (including infants). Now, if a patient has a broken hearing device, the patient has the option of scheduling a quick 10-minute appointment to have the device cleaned, checked and fixed. For appointments or more information, you can visit the business’s website, www.hearjoyaudiology.com.       

Finally, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the grounds adjacent to the Grafton Police Department on Tuesday August 1, the GPD will join with many police departments across the country to hold a National Night Out block party to further strengthen the bond it has with residents. There will be family-friendly displays, activities (including a dunk tank that will benefit the GPD UMASS Cancer Walk team), kids’ activities, safety tips, free food and music. Past sponsors of the event include: Dunkin Donuts, Pepperoni Express, Homefield Credit Union, UniBank, Grafton Job Corps, E.L. Harvey & Sons, Table Talk Pies, All Phase Glass, Swirls & Scoops, Fitzy’s Car Wash, Bushel ’N Peck, Direnzo Towing & Recovery, Grafton Lions Club and the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office.  

Summer may fly by as quickly as the hummingbirds that visit New England during these warmer months. But the opportunities it brings can last well beyond their return flight. 

Contact Christine with your business news items at [email protected].