Needham Local

Flavorama: A Guide to Unlocking the Art and Science of Flavor
2026-01-11 14:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Needham Public Library Community Room, 1139 Highland Avenue, Needham, MA, 02494, United States
Friends of the Needham Public Library
Sunday Salon
For Dr. Arielle Johnson, it’s never been enough to just have great food experiences. Understanding how they work—the deep mechanisms that go into making real, delicious food real and delicious—that’s the stuff. From a PhD in the science of flavor to the test kitchens and labs behind the world’s best restaurants, Arielle has explored the cosmos of taste from every angle and condensed it down into a single, handy book. Flavorama: a guide to unlocking the art and science of flavor. Because if it’s exciting to know what you’re doing in the kitchen, it’s positively elating to know why you’re doing what you’re doing—and how you can do it with more smarts, confidence, and creativity.
Flavorama: A guide to unlocking the art and science of flavor will be available for purchase and autographing courtesy of Wellesley Books at the conclusion of the event.
This Program is sponsored by the Friends of the Needham Public Library. Registration is required.
***IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION E-MAIL AFTER REGISTERING, PLEASE CALL THE REFERENCE DEPARTMENT (781-455-7559 X2) TO CHECK REGISTRATION STATUS***

Crime of the Century: How the Brink's Robbers Stole Millions and the Hearts of Boston
2026-01-12 19:00 - 20:30 | Needham History Center & Museum, 1147 Central Ave., Needham, MA, 02492, United States
Stephanie Schorow is back, with a story that is “stranger—and far more compelling—than Hollywood led us to believe” (author David Kruh). On January 17, 1950, seven robbers in Halloween masks walked into a counting room of the Brink’s armored car garage on Prince Street in Boston and walked out with $2.5 million in cash, checks, and securities. It was the
largest robbery in U.S. history to date. Yet not a shot was fired, not a drop of blood shed. The robbers simply said, “This is a stick-up,” before gagging and tying up the guards. Within minutes they escaped into the night with bags stuffed with money, leaving almost no clues behind.
This is Stephanie’s third program for the Needham History Center. She has previously spoken to us about the Cocoanut Grove Fire, and the Boston Harbor Islands Adventure. After stints as a journalist at the Boston Herald, the Associated Press and newspapers large and small, Stephanie Schorow turned to nonfiction narratives. She has written or co-written six other books on Boston’s history: Boston On Fire: A History of Fire and Firefighting in Boston; The Cocoanut Grove Fire; East of Boston: Notes from the Harbor Islands; The Boston Mob Guide: Hitmen, Hoodlums and Hangouts (with Beverly Ford); and Drinking Boston: A History of the City and its Spirits.
This talk is free and open to everyone. Refreshments will be served.

School Committee Meeting
2026-01-13 18:30 - 21:00, 2026-01-20 18:30 - 21:00 | Broadmeadow School Performance Center, 120 Broad Meadow Rd, Needham, 02492
The Needham School Committee will hold three meetings this month. This session, being held at the Broadmeadow School Performance Center, will be recorded and aired LIVE on the Needham Education Channel and HD Channnel. The School Committee meeting will subsequently play back on the Needham Channel Education, Municipal and HD Channels the following day. The meeting will also be available for streaming at www.needhamchannel.org and on the Needham Channel’s free Roku app. Agendas are available typically online the Friday prior to the meeting.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration
2026-01-19 10:00 - 11:30 | Needham High School, 609 Webster Street, Needham, MA, 02494, United States

Needham Planning Board
2026-01-20 19:00 - 23:00 | Public Services Administration Building, 500 Dedham Avenue, Needham, MA, 02492, United States
The Needham Planning Board meets for its regular session at the Public Service Administration Building at 500 Dedham Avenue. This meeting will be held on our Municipal Channel, and will stream via the Zoom Meeting platform, with the link available on the agenda. Look for the Needham Channel to subsequently air and stream the meeting through the Municipal Channel, HD Channel, at needhamchannel.org, and through its free Roku App.

Piano Trio Gems | Needham Concert Society
2026-01-25 15:00 - 17:00 | Carter Memorial UMC, 800 Highland Avenue, Needham, 02494
DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH | Violinist Irina Muresanu and pianist Asiya Korepanova join cellist Ronald Lowry in a program that brims with passion and contrast, characterized by shimmering color (Turina), fiery intensity (Babajanian), and poetic drama (Robert Schumann).
These programs are supported in part by a grant from the Needham Council for Arts and Culture, ​a local agency which is supported by the Town of Needham and the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Forum on Immigration
2026-01-26 19:30 - 21:00 | Center at the Heights, 300 Hillside Avenue, Needham Heights, MA, 02492, United States

Needham Library Winter Book Sale
2026-01-30 12:00 - 16:00, 2026-01-31 09:00 - 16:00, 2026-02-01 13:00 - 16:00 | Needham Public Library Community Room, 1139 Highland Avenue, Needham, MA, 02494, United States
The Winter Book Sale of the Friends of the Needham Public Library will open on Friday, January 30, from 12:00 to 4:00. The sale continues on Saturday, January 31 from 9:00 to 4:00, and on Sunday, February 1 from 1:00 to 4:00.
Individually priced books in the Friends’ Book Shop will be half-price starting at 12:00 Friday, and continuing all day Saturday and Sunday. Items in the Community Room are uniformly priced from 12:00 to 4:00 on Friday and all day Saturday. These include hardcovers and trade paperbacks at $1.00, mass market paperbacks at 50 cents, and CDs and DVDs at $1.00.
Sunday is bargain day in the Community Room, during which all items are half-price. A brown bag of books is a true bargain at $8.00. Fiction, general non-fiction, some separate non-fiction categories, children’s youth, and young adult books are among the many that will be available in the library’s community room.
Please note that only cash or checks will be accepted for payment. The Needham Free Library, located at 1139 Highland Avenue, is handicap accessible. The best access to the lower level Community Room is from the library parking lot on Rosemary Street. For further information, visit the Friends’ website http://www.friendsneedhamlibrary.org or call 781-455-7559.

Student String Festival | Needham Concert Society
2026-01-31 12:00 - 14:00 | Carter Memorial UMC, 800 Highland Avenue, Needham, 02494
STRING FESTIVAL | The Needham Concert Society sponsors annual student festivals to give piano, string, and voice students an opportunity to perform in front of an audience of family, friends, and others. The recitals, free and open to the public, are also designed to foster community among students and their teachers. For eligibility and registration details, see https://needhamconcertsociety.org/string_festival/.
These programs are supported in part by a grant from the Needham Council for Arts and Culture, ​a local agency which is supported by the Town of Needham and the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Unlaunch’d Voices: an Evening with Walt Whitman
2026-02-04 19:00 - 20:30 | Memorial Park Field House, 92 Rosemary Street, Needham, MA, 02494, United States
Unlaunch’d Voices: an Evening with Walt Whitman. Conceived and performed by Stephen Collins, Written by Michael Z. Keamy.
Unlaunch’d Voices opens with the elderly Whitman on the evening of his seventieth birthday. The audience is a visitor in his room as he prepares for his birthday celebration. Whitman begins to reminisce and to question his success as a man and a poet. He tells us his work has proved to be “less than a failure….” He remembers a mystical experience he had in his thirty-seventh year that inspired him to write poetry.
During the telling, Whitman transforms into his young vibrant self and we begin to trace back along with him the experiences that led to the creation of Leaves Of Grass, his lifetime work. The first part of the performance explores Whitman’s preoccupation with the self and his resolve to write with “free and brave thought…” We revel with him as he celebrates his body and himself and are confidants as he shares his struggle with his sexual self. In the second part of the performance, Whitman’s life is changed forever by the occurrence of the Civil War. It is here that he finds “… the most important work of my life…” nursing the wounded soldiers in the hospitals. Through poetry and readings of actual letters, we experience Whitman’s movement from selfishness and selflessness and his growth into a mature artist who is at peace about “himself, God and death.”

“Shared Light” Art Exhibit Reception
2026-02-08 16:30 - 18:00 | Gorse Mill Gallery, 31 Thorpe Street, Needham, MA, 02494, United States
Needham Art Association presents “Shared Light,” a themed exhibit on view at Gorse Mill Gallery during the month of February. Please join us for the opening reception on Sunday, February 8, 4:30-6:00pm (you can be home in time for the Super Bowl kick-off!).

Student Piano Festival | Needham Concert Society
2026-04-11 14:00 - 16:30 | Carter Memorial UMC, 800 Highland Avenue, Needham, 02494
PIANO FESTIVAL | 2pm and 3:30pm | The Needham Concert Society sponsors annual student festivals to give piano, string, and voice students an opportunity to perform in front of an audience of family, friends, and others. The recitals, free and open to the public, are also designed to foster community among students and their teachers. For eligibility and registration details, see https://needhamconcertsociety.org/piano_festival/.
These programs are supported in part by a grant from the Needham Council for Arts and Culture, ​a local agency which is supported by the Town of Needham and the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Leland Ko + Adria Ye | Needham Concert Society
2026-04-12 15:00 - 17:00 | Carter Memorial UMC, 800 Highland Avenue, Needham, 02494
ELEGANT ARTISTRY | Naumburg First-Prize-winning cellist Leland Ko and acclaimed pianist Adria Ye present a program of expressive and virtuosic music, ranging from works by Suk, Kabalevsky, and Fauré to Bach, Schumann, and Brahms.
These programs are supported in part by a grant from the Needham Council for Arts and Culture, ​a local agency which is supported by the Town of Needham and the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Student Voice Festival | Needham Concert Society
2026-05-02 17:00 - 18:00 | Carter Memorial UMC, 800 Highland Avenue, Needham, 02494
VOICE FESTIVAL | The Needham Concert Society sponsors annual student festivals to give piano, string, and voice students an opportunity to perform in front of an audience of family, friends, and others. The recitals, free and open to the public, are also designed to foster community among students and their teachers. For eligibility and registration details, see https://needhamconcertsociety.org/voice_festival/.
These programs are supported in part by a grant from the Needham Council for Arts and Culture, ​a local agency which is supported by the Town of Needham and the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

50th Anniversary Concert | Needham Concert Society
2026-05-03 15:00 - 17:00 | Carter Memorial UMC, 800 Highland Avenue, Needham, 02494
BOLD AND TIMELESS | The Needham Concert Society celebrates its fiftieth anniversary with a commissioned work by Pulitzer-nominated composer David Post and two string masterpieces, a classically elegant string quintet by Mozart and Dvořák’s romantic and exuberant string sextet.
These programs are supported in part by a grant from the Needham Council for Arts and Culture, ​a local agency which is supported by the Town of Needham and the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
