When Natick parents want a little time carved out for themselves, the Natick Recreation Department is happy to oblige. Every other Saturday night through the fall, Natick homeowners are welcome to bring their children to the Cole Recreation Night for and evening of supervised pizza and activities.

That’s not all Natick Rec and Parks is up to. They work hard to bring the Natick community together, arranging playgroups and art and dance classes for the little ones. Older children can take robotics classes, practice basketball skills, or learn to be a television producer. Natick even makes sure adults get in on the action with opportunities for dance aerobics or ultimate Frisbee. Natick provides recreational and social opportunities to promote a healthy community.

With the launch of the fall market this week, buyers considering a move to Natick have a lot to look forward to.  With the market sure to be flooded by new listings in the coming weeks and an uptick in open houses, the inventory will increase but so will the competition for buyers looking for their first (or next!) home. 

Seven new properties have come on the market since September 1.  Natick’s diverse real estate allows for homes to be purchased across a variety of budgets and needs.  New to the market is 22 Pleasant St, an 1800 SF well maintained bank owned cape in premiere South Natick.  Listed at $394,000, it is being offered at $100,000 less than its previous purchase price in 2005.  Perhaps a good opportunity for the shrewd buyer!

Natick High School has a new state-of-the-art $1.6 million field, Memorial Turf Field.  The field will be utilized by several of the high school teams’ home games, incluing football, soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey. The first team on the field, though, will be Natick Pop Warner football, a Natick tradition. While the field will be in heavy rotation for school teams, any member of the Natick community is welcome to use the track & field when not in scheduled use.  All users will surely enjoy the new bleachers and rest rooms, all of which is handicapped accessible. Head over for a jog around the track and see for yourself the benefits for the Natick community.

This summer Natick received the Government Finance Officer Association’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award. Only 1,200 of the 75,000 U.S. government entities receive this award. The GFOA established the award to encourage governments to prepare high quality budget documents reflecting best practices. This award shows that Natick has achieved exactly that, and improved the quality and consistency of Natick’s capital and operating budgets. The town has specifically made an effort to create a budget that is a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide, and a communication device for the Natick community. Town leaders are proud to represent Natick taxpayers in this way.

The needs of every homeowner are different, and hopefully, there is a perfect home out there for each buyer.  While the needs of buyers may range from needing a two-car garage, a certain number of bedrooms, or a beautiful back porch, some buyer are most charged by the amount of living area a home offers.  Whether the spatial needs arise from having a large family, the love of entertaining lots of guests, or the desire to showcase a myriad of prized possessions, for some home owners, bigger is better!

Those interested in entering into ownership of Natick real estate have a variety of options for large homes.  Presently, there are 15 listings of homes exceeding 3500SF of living space, overwhelmingly located in South Natick.  South Natick, with many new developments, in general offers larger lots, more privacy, and newer construction than more developed North Natick.  These homes range from high-end to fixer-uppers that start at just $475,000 and climb up to $2,000,000.  If considering a move to Natick, be sure to look at all of the space inside and out that South Natick has to offer.

Among Natick’s many scenic venues is the Mass Audobon Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary off Eliot Street in South Natick. With nine miles of walking trails, some along the Charles River, and a wheelchair accessible boardwalk following Indian Brook, the sanctuary is the perfect spot for a summer walk for a Natick family. Broadmoor Sanctuary’s Visitor Center, an historic barn, is a model for environmental awareness with solar heat, rainwater collection, and composting toilets.

Throughout August, the Natick community can enjoy special programs at the Nature Center and through the Sanctuary. Visitors can enjoy a morning canoe on the Charles River, discover butterflies and dragonflies, or explore summer stars and meteors.  Whether or not you can make the special programs, there is much to see in this preserved natural setting in Natick.

An effective town website informs and guides residents. Natick is updating to a redesigned website to better meet the needs of the Natick community. The town administrator is confident the improvements will be more user-friendly and improve Natick residents’ access to information. The newly designed Citizens Action Center is a streamlined website, better able to provide access to town documents, the town calendar, and information from each department. One of the benefits of the new website is that town staff will be able to update the site quickly, ensuring timely information dispersal for Natick residents. Natick administrators have made a commitment to ensuring easy and effective access to information for the Natick community.

A petite but significant landmark in Natick is the “Natick Cobbler” shoeshop located at the corner of Mill Street and West Central Street.  A quaint piece of Natick real estate, the shop stands in homage to the hardworking man who served as a cobbler there in the mid-1850s.  From modest beginnings, Henry Wilson rose to great heights through hard work and perseverance.  After becoming a cobbler in Natick, he became a teacher, editor, senator, and eventually Vice President of the United States under Ulysses S. Grant.  Even through declining health later in life, Wilson’s work ethic harkened back to his Natick roots as he continued to lead the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C.  He passed away in 1875 and is buried at the Old Dell Park Cemetery in Natick.

Wilson’s storefront serves as a reminder to the Natick community nearly two hundred years after Wilson’s death that even from the humblest of beginnings, we are all capable of greatness.

Natick residents enjoy summer days cooling off at Memorial Beach and Dug Pond, but that still leaves the evenings free for entertainment. The Natick community is fortunate that the Recreation and Parks Department organizes a Family Performing Arts Series of weekly performances on the Natick Common. Performances by individual musicians and bands are sure to entertain the entire family. Next up is Wayne Potash, a children’s musician with six children’s albums under his belt. For budding percussionists, Bob Bloom will perform in August with participation solicited from the audience. Bring the entire family and a picnic dinner to enjoy these warm summer nights with Natick neighbors.

We often think of recycling cans and newspapers, but less often consider the importance of recycling our water. Natick residents now have assistance with water recycling, in a more effective way than Mother Nature, and one that takes some pressure off local water delivery and management. The Natick Recycling Committee, partnered with SkyJuice New England, is offering discount-priced rain barrels. Rain barrels are designed to catch rainwater runoff from a roof. Screens keep insects and debris out. Collected water can then be used during dry periods for outside watering, preserving potable water and replenishing ground water. Natick real estate owners should take pride in the town’s efforts to provide and encourage a depth and range of recycling opportunities to improve their community.