Grand Prize Winner

Emilie-Noelle Provost
Lowell, MA

Growing up near Boston I’d always been a city girl. I’d walk to the store, everything was close.  So, after four years of living out in Western Massachusetts, 15 miles from the nearest grocery store, moving to Lowell was like coming home.  The first night we spent in our city apartment, almost 11 years ago now, I sat at the kitchen table and stared out at the Merrimack, the blue glow of the Sun newspaper sign in the background, the red-brick stacks like magnificent Roman ruins lining the river’s banks.

We have our own house in Lowell now, but I miss that view.  Whenever I think about the city, I imagine it the way it looked from that apartment:  the river shimmering pink with the winter sunrise, the Merrimack’s old smokestacks standing sentry like wise trees, remembering what the city once was, bearing witness to all that it will become.



Runners-Up

Felicia Sullivan
Lowell, MA

Saturday. Three tweens are in tow on loan from their Tewksbury mom.  Giggly girls ramped up for their overnight in the “big city.”  The day’s theme – creativity.  We start with secretive works at the 119 Gallery. A maze-like crawl through Western Ave follows with the making of tiny glass penguins, the surprise end.  Eats are all-American despite my pleas for more exotic fare.  Last act for the day is the film, fashion show and poetry slam featuring Fly Orb at the Revolving Museum.   Late night drunkenness infects the tweens.  We head a couple of blocks south to my Market Street abode.  Milo, the resident pug, finds no lack of company on his quick constitutional.  Hot chocolate nightcaps barely finished as the trio crashes into slumber.  When quizzed the next day by mom about the best part of their Lowell adventure what do they say?  Why seeing Milo of course!

Helena McKniff Crocker
Westford, MA

This a story about the people from Forge Village in the 30s and 40s. Going to Lowell every Saturday was a ritual for them, especially the people from Yorkshire, England getting their supply of all the English products from Brown's Pork Store on John Street.  Scotch ham, black pudding, elder, tripe and mulberry pies were the favorites.  After shopping, most of them had lunch at Chin Lee's over Woolworth's ten cent store!  Then, before hitting Barrows Bus Station, they picked up butter and eggs at Kennedy's and Brockleman's.   I loved Lowell at Christmas in the 40s and 50s,  every store was decorated so beautifully...wonderful memories of Lowell in those days.

Bridget Marshall
Lowell, MA

In August of 2009 I was walking my dog, Carter, around the Reservoir in the Christian Hill neighborhood of Lowell, when suddenly, our lives were changed forever. Our dog Carter became a movie star!  David O. Russell, the director of The Fighter, picked our dog out of a crowd of local dogs and put him into two scenes in the movie.  He’s the one that Christian Bale’s character notices and yells “Hey!  Is that a cocker spaniel?”  (Carter probably is part cocker spaniel, part Brittany; he’s a rescue mutt).  We spent two days watching the actors rehearse and film and a few of them even chatted with us, snuggling up to Carter (he’s very affectionate).  Carter even got paid!  It was so exciting to see so much of Lowell – and our dog – in the movie.  Our friends and families can’t believe how lucky we are to live in Lowell!