Massachusetts
Scouting Massachusetts for great lobster rolls
Look up “quintessential New England summer food” in the dictionary and there should be a picture of an ice-cold fresh-shucked New England lobster roll.
You know the top spots: The long-time local-owned clam shack on your local waterfront. The upscale city spot that charges a bit extra but delivers. The seafood restaurants with world name recognition. You can count on them to deliver.
But there are some other special locales to scarf down a fantastic lobster roll. Here are some perhaps surprising spots to savor that New England classic.
At a landmark: We’re talking beloved Fenway Park. For the most part, I’m anti “other types of food” at the ballpark. Chowder at a Sox game? Nah. I’m all about the classics: Kettle corn, peanuts, Hoodsies and of course, Fenway Franks.
So it was a delicious surprise when, while at a recent game, I opted to tuck into a Luke’s Lobster lobster roll.
Perfection. It’s a buttery roll stuffed full with sweet, fresh and meaty lobster seasoned with a tiny bit of mayo and a few secret spices Luke won’t divulge. They’re sublime.
And lobster rolls pair perfectly with a Red Sox game. Sure, a roll (with a bag of chips) will cost you $38 at the game. But hey: with a fountain lemonade ringing in at $10.50 at Fenway, that feels like a value.
Behind the barn: The big red barn at the fork of Sandwich and River Streets in the Chiltonville section of Plymouth has been many things over the years. Carpentry center, penny candy stop, farm stand, and ice cream spot are just a few of its iterations, and always under the same family, the Bramhalls.
This generation of Bramhalls have taken that classic red barn and ramped it up to a must visit for their out-of-this-world lobster rolls.
Bramhall’s butters and toasts a fresh roll and then fills it with super fresh shucked meat (so fresh, they can name the lobsterman/woman who dropped them off that very morning). They leave the seasonings to you, giving you a little mayo, salt and pepper to make your own choice. It works. The fresh sweet lobster meat is – as it should be – the star.
You’ll dine at simple picnic tables under shade trees (or down the street looking out over the beach and ocean). Pro tip: follow it with one of Sally’s fresh and made on site ice cream sandwiches. www.bramhallscountrystore.com
Off a truck: When it come to serving fresh, local and perfect lobster rolls, the Lobsta Love Truck, created and operated by award-winning chef Stephen Coe (chefstephencoe.com) – who “Beat Bobby Flay” and is in development for his own food series – is a sure thing.
Lobsta Love pops up all over – city streets, small town beer gardens, fundraisers and more. You might spot it pulled into a firehouse: Coe and Lobsta Love believe in serving those who serve us.
Coe, who calls the South Shore home and is a believer in shopping local, fresh and sustainable, has direct links to lobster boats right on the docks of the South Shore.
When the boats pull in, Coe and his team pick up their lobsters, cook them and let them sit and chill for a day before mixing in his own secret dashes of this and that – enough to amp up flavor but let the fresh, cold lobster meat shine through.
Find them and dig in.

Massachusetts
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Massachusetts
Massachusetts introduces SafetyWorks to enhance workplace safety
CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – The Healey and Driscoll Administration has launched the SafetyWorks Initiative to enhance workplace safety across 160 organizations in Massachusetts.
The initiative includes $800,000 in grants aimed at training workers within these organizations, which collectively employ nearly 14,000 individuals.
Employers can apply for up to $25,000 in training grants through MassDOT.gov. The SafetyWorks Initiative is designed to improve safety standards and practices in workplaces throughout Massachusetts. By providing substantial grants, the administration aims to equip workers with the necessary skills and knowledge to maintain safer work environments.
Employers can apply for the SafetyWorks grants here.
Local News Headlines
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Download the 22News Plus app on your TV to watch live-streaming newscasts and video on demand.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WWLP. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WWLP staff before being published.
Massachusetts
Live Wire: Nields’ Welcome Table Chorus concert to benefit Food Bank of Western Massachusetts
NORTHAMPTON — Two things that have an almost innate ability to bring people together are food and music.
And that combination will be the focus of an upcoming Welcome Table Chorus concert at Northampton’s Bombyx Center for the Arts on Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. The evening will feature a massive chorus of singers and proceeds will benefit the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.
The Welcome Table Chorus is the brainchild of Nerissa Nields of local folk duo The Nields. Nields said she had created a similar folk chorus when she was in college in the late 1980s.
“So, it’s something I’ve been interested in my entire life,” she said. “The college chorus was called Tangled Up in Blue and that was sort of a template for me.”
Although she is best known for her work with The Nields, who blend folk, rock and pop into their sound, Nields is no stranger to choral music. Along her music journey, she has created and conducted choruses for children, including one in Northampton which turned into three different groups and ran for five years until the pandemic hit.
Of course, COVID stopped most live music and community events in their tracks.
Then last April, Nields and her husband went to Boston with friends for the “No Kings” rally and one of her friends happened to be a parent of one of the children from a previous chorus.
“She asked me if I ever thought about starting a chorus for adults and said that if I did, she’d join it in a second,” Nields said.
The idea intrigued Nields, but initially she thought it would be too much work. But after mulling it a bit, she called her sister (and bandmate) Katryna, who had been running a few youth choruses already and asked her if that’s something she would want to do together.
“And she didn’t even hesitate. She immediately said ‘yes.’ But we debated it and went back-and-forth and wondered if it would be too much time or if we would lose our minds,” Nields said with a laugh.
In the end, the sisters decided to forge ahead.
“I think this is something that people need; we need to sing with other people and be in community with other people,” Nields said. “Especially with the twin things of people being more cautious and isolated after COVID and the political climate being what it is, it’s important that people do gather.”
So, they put out the word, expecting to get maybe 30 people.
They got 80.
“We started out with about 80 singers — there were no auditions so anybody could join. But people whittle themselves away, and now we have about 60 to 70,” Nields said.
The songs that will be performed are about inclusion, love, and activism, Nields said, but it will be a diverse set list. Some of the songs on the setlist include Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’, “Crowded Table” by The Highwomen, “Don’t Carry It All” by the Decemberists, and “Dreams” by The Cranberries.
The chorus will be singing all these tunes in four-part harmony and putting that together so quickly (the chorus just started in September) is a daunting task. But fortunately, Nields relied heavily on her former chorus work.
“A lot of the songs we chose were ones that we already had arrangements for,” she said.
The chorus itself is also diverse.
“It’s a mixture. I got all kinds of different all different kinds of people. Some are quite good, and some are complete beginners. I have some parents from the earlier choruses. We have people who are Nields fans, and we have people who don’t know anything about us,” Nields said. “I even have one of my classmates from college who is doing it 40 years later with her husband.”
Nields mused about why singing gives people a sense of community.
“I think there’s a kind of spiritual thing that happens, which would be kind of hard to define in words, but we all know it when we feel it,” she said. “But from a technical point of view, when you’re singing with other people – at least the way we’re teaching it – you really have to listen. You have to pay attention to what your neighbors are singing. You have to look each other in the eyes if you’re singing together. It’s pretty intimate.”
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