The Reading Lions Club’s 10th Annual Reading Friends and Family Day will take place Saturday, June 15 in the Birch Meadow area. Events start at 9:30 a.m. The day will be filled with activities and entertainment for the whole family. Entertainment starts at 10:30 a.m. and booths open at 11 a.m., the Chronicle said. Stop by and enjoy a petting zoo, bounce house, frisbee throwing robot, food, demonstrations, performances and more. The event will kick off with the FORR kids fun run and end with fireworks. Here is a list of scheduled events: 9:30 a.m. Friends of Reading Recreation Kids Fun Run 11:…

Celebrate Memorial Day in Reading with a parade and services. The Memorial Day services will start at 9 a.m. on Monday, according to Veterans’ Service Officer Frank Driscoll. The parade will begin forming at 8:30 a.m. and will officially kick off at 9 a.m., Driscoll said. The parade will start at the American Legion Post 62, 37 Ash St. The first service will be held at the Laurel Hill Cemetery at 9:15 a.m. followed by a service at the Forest Glen Cemetery at 10:45 a.m. The next service will be held at the Charles Lawn Cemetery at 11.30 a.m. and the final service will be at the Wood End …

Welcome to You Ask... Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about yard waste. Here's your answer. Residents can bring yard waste, including leaves, brush, grass clippings and the like to the Compost Center. You need a compost sticker, which can be purchased at the police department for $25 and it will be good for one year. The hours for the compost center for the month of May are 8 a.m. to noon on Mondays and Fridays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

Welcome to You Asked...Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about the traffic lights on Main Street near the town center. Patch readers want to know why the traffic lights aren't coordinated so that you don't get stopped at every light. Here's your answer. The town's engineering division oversees the day to day traffic light monitoring and maintenance. Town Engineer George Zambouras said that the traffic lights on Main Street are designed so that you cannot drive straight through all of them for safety reasons. "They are there to regulate traffic," …

Anyone driving down Main Street in Reading or Boston Road in Westford must have realized that Eric's is gone. What happened? Well, you asked Patch, and we found an answer. Recently, Eric's, in Reading, was sold, along with the name "Eric's." Now, Artis Senior Living has proposed to build a 64-unit facility at 1090-1100 Main St. for elders who need help with activities of daily living, such as dressing and eating, consultant for Artis Patrick Mallon told Patch. The Eric's in Westford reverted to Drew Gardens, a name purchased by Eric's owner Tom Goddard when he purchased the property from Drew…

Have you registered to vote yet? Time is running out! Today is the deadline to register. If you plan to vote in the April 30 senate primary election, you must register to vote by Wednesday, April 10.  Voter registration can be done through the mail, but not if you are just getting around to it today. If you still want to register, you should do it in person at Reading Town Hall, or at the Registry of Motor Vehicles.  In person at Town Hall Head down to Reading Town Hall and register in person.  At the RMV If you're heading to the Registry of Motor Vehicles to apply for or renew your driver's …

Reading voters agreed to fund the Reading Public Library renovation project 65 to 34 percent at the polls this week. What does the Debt Exclusion override mean for the town and how much will taxes go up? The estimated cost for the project is $14.9 million. However, now that residents supported the project at the polls, Reading will secure a $5.1 million grant from the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program, according to the Daily Times Chronicle. As for the tax increase, a resident living in a $400,000 home is looking at an additional $150 increase on their tax bill for the next 10…

It’s a question we get asked a lot: “How do I submit a Letter to the Editor?” And with a special election and Town Meeting later this month, we thought there was no better time to answer. (Don’t get us wrong, Letters to the Editor don’t have to be political. Sometimes the small issues resonate the most.) There are two ways to submit a Letter to the Editor to Reading Patch: 1. As a blog post. Submitting a Letter to the Editor as a blog post is easy (really as simple as writing an email) and immediate (as soon as you hit “Approve,” it’ll be live on the site). If you plan on submitting multiple …

Welcome to You Ask... Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received a question about how many tickets Reading Police gave out last year. Here's your answer. According to Reading Police, 5,369 tickets were issued in 2012. Over 800 of those tickets were issued for a stop sign or red light violation. Over 1,000 of the tickets were issued for speeding violations, 733 were issued due to defective equipment and 190 were issued because of a seat belt violation. Take a look at the various violations that tickets were issued for in Reading last year. Violation Number of tickets…

Welcome to You Ask... Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about how many arrests were made in 2012. Here's your answer.  According to Reading Police, 154 people were arrested on 349 different charges in 2012. Of the 154 people, 123 were male and 31 were female, police said. 74 people were arrested on warrants, 16 on conspiracy charges, 19 for operating a vehicle without being licensed, 18 for assault and battery and four for the possession of a class E substance.  Take a look at all of the various violations listed below. Number of times charge …

Welcome to You Ask... Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about the last day of school in Reading. Patch readers want to know when schools will be dismissed for the summer. Here's your answer. According to Superintendent John Doherty, the last day of school is June 25. Reading has already used the four snow days built into the school calendar, and then some. If the schools in town were never closed throughout the year due to inclement weather or another reason, the last day of school would be June 18. However, with the blizzard of 2013, Hurricane …

Welcome to You Ask... Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about how much the town has spent on snow removal. Here's your answer. Reading has spent $807,000 on snow removal so far this fiscal year, according to Director of Public Works Jeffrey T. Zager. The storm last week cost about $44,000, which breaks down to $30,000 for contractor services and $14,000 for materials and overtime. The blizzard of 2013 cost the town approximately $245,000. The original budget allocation was $600,000, which means that the town is already $207,000 over budget. "Let's…

Drivers who are considering a switch to electric vehicles or current vehicle owners looking for a place nearby to charge their rides have a couple of places to find their outlet. In Reading, the closest charging stations are in Lynnfield at the Kelly Nissan of Lynnfield at 271-275 Broadway and in Danvers at Michaud Mitsubishi on 80 Andover St., according to crowd-sourced website carstations.com. Carstations allows users to upload new car charging locations to a Google map and (when applicable) provides details on the station. According to the site's About section, "this website is designed to…

Welcome to You Asked...Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about Daylight Saving time. Here's your answer. You know the old saying "Fall back, spring forward." Well, it's almost time to spring forward.  We received a reader question on the date Daylight Saving begins this year.  This year we move the clocks overnight on Sunday, March 10. Don't forget to move your clocks ahead one hour before going to bed Saturday night. Officially Daylight Saving is 2 a.m. on Sunday. Yes, moving the clocks ahead does mean we all lose an hour of sleep, but in return …

Welcome to You Ask... Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about voter registration deadlines. Patch readers want to know when the deadlines are. Here is your answer. Reading has a local election and U.S. Senate primary and election coming up. Here are the dates of the elections and the deadlines to register to vote: Election Date of Election Deadline to Register to Vote Local Election April 2 March 13 U.S. Senate Primary April 30 April 10 U.S. Senate Election June 25 June 5  Register to vote at the Town Clerk's office at Town Hall or print a mail-in…

Welcome to You Ask... Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about a Cape Ann Fresh Catch delivery spot coming to Reading. Patch readers want to know if this could potentially happen. Here's your answer. Reading resident Michael Bean picked up fresh fish, provided by Cape Ann Fresh Catch (CAFC), in a Melrose restaurant last summer. He recently found out that CAFC is considering opening a pick up location in Reading, possibly at Calareso's, but they need at least 40 people to participate. Would you like to pick up fresh fish in town? CAFC is a Community…

Welcome to You Ask... Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about the last day of school in Reading. Patch readers want to know when schools will be dismissed for the summer. Here's your answer. According to Superintendent John Doherty, as of Feb. 13 the last day of school is June 21, but that can still change. If you checked your district calendar, you may see that the last day of school in Reading is June 24. You should know that they build four snow days in to that. If the schools in town were never closed throughout the year due to inclement …

Welcome to You Ask... Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about the white meat in Harrows Chicken Pies. Patch readers want to know what Harrows does with the dark meat given that they only use white meat in their pies. Here is your answer. According to owner Wally Arsenault, people often wonder what Harrows does with their dark meat, but they don't use it at all. “That's a question we get asked often. We only use chicken breasts so we don't have any dark meat," he said. There you have it, Reading. Harrows does not use dark meat at all.

Welcome to You Ask... Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about the names of snow storms. Patch readers want to find out more about why snow storms have names now. Here is your answer. You've probably heard occasional—but perhaps not frequent—references to this winter storm as "Nemo." While it makes for some good jokes about that cute little orange fish, Nemo is not the brainchild of the Disney Corporation, but rather, a pre-determined name The Weather Channel gave to this latest storm. If you missed it: The Weather Channel in November announced it …

Welcome to You Ask...Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about the Market Basket in Reading. Patch readers want to know if the grocery store is moving. Here's your answer. Rumors about the Market Basket in Reading have been circulating around town. Residents heard that the grocery store is moving to Wakefield. However, Assistant Manager Mark Lambert said that they are not moving, and do not have any plans to move in the future. ”We're doing business as usual,” Lambert said. Operations Manager David McLean confirmed Lambert's answer and said that the…