Mother's Day Weekend: Heaviest Traffic Day of the Year, Again?

Last year, the Friday before Mother's Day was the heaviest traffic day of the year on the Mass Pike.

  Mother's Day Weekend (and warm-ish weather) is upon us, and so will be throngs of people trying to flee town, especially on the Mass Pike or heading to the Cape. Turnpike toll transactions statistics from 2012 ranked the Friday before Mother’s Day as the heaviest traffic day on the Pike with more than 363,000 transactions logged between Interstate 95/Route 128 and the New York border. Friday nights in warm weather months accounted for the rest of the top 20 heaviest travel days on the Pike last year: This weekend, heaviest traffic is expected Friday and Sunday afternoons and early evenings.  So MassDOT (Massachusetts Department of Transportation) officials are encouraging drivers to make travel plans accordingly and, if possible, avoid …

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Patch Facts

Five Things You Need to Know on Thanksgiving

A little bit about Thanksgiving and what the holiday means for you.

1. A Little History: Though the autumn feast shared by colonists in Plymouth and the Wampanoags shared in the 1620s is acknowledged as one of the first Thanksgiving dinners, the History Channel tells us it was not a national holiday until 1863 when, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day would be held in November. 2. What It Means for You: Besides that you're probably feasting with family and/or friends, Thanksgiving is a day when municipal offices, schools, libraries and many businesses shut down. School will be back in sesson on Monday, while town offices, save for the Senior Center, restaurants and local retailers will open back up tomorrow in anticipation of the rush of holiday …

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Patch Facts

Five Things You Need to Know Today: Nov. 23

Half-days, holiday travel and soup bowls for the hunger today in Lexington.

1. Early release for the holiday weekend: It's a half-day for the students and staff of the Lexington Public Schools, which break for Thanksgiving and won't resume classes until after the holiday weekend. The high school lets out first, at 11:15 a.m., followed by the middle schools at 11:45 a.m. and the elementary schools at 12:15 p.m. 2. Soup Bowls for Hunger: Don't feel like cooking this Thanksgiving eve, head over to Nourish and order a bowl of soup, but make sure it's in one of the one-of-a-kind bowls created by the teen pottery class at the Lexington Arts and Crafts Society. For $20, you can get a bowl and some soup -- it's $15 without soup -- and the proceeds go to the Lexington Food Pantry. The fourth annual Soup Bowls for Hunger …

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