Skate At Own Risk sign Old Reservoir Lexington
The Old Reservoir, located on of Town land, is a popular winter skating destination for community members. But "it’s really never safe to skate on unmaintained ice," said Lexington Police Captain of Operations Chris Barry. (Sophie Culpepper / LexObserver)

Hello, Lexington!

Good morning and Happy New Year! Welcome to LexObserver’s first Friday news roundup of 2023.

As you may know (and surely to your inbox’s relief), we crossed the NewsMatch finish line Dec. 31! Here’s an exciting update from Erin on how we did:

NewsMatch results: You are amazing, dear readers!

We raised almost $20,000 during NewsMatch, making us eligible for their $15,000 match! That’s $35,000 total, which is a great start to the year. Thank you to everyone who contributed, and especially to those of you who have chosen to be recurring donors! Thank you as well to One2One Bodyscapes for their $500 matching contribution!

Almost 300 people donated, and about 2/3 of you were first-time donors! We are so grateful to each and every one of you — your gifts allow Sophie’s excellent reporting to continue and give us enough breathing room to keep bringing in new features and sections. Please continue to spread the word to your friends and neighbors about our coverage and our mission. You are our best ambassadors!

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You’ve set us up to cover a lot of important stories in 2023 and to keep growing in the future! Thank you, and here’s this week’s news.

In this issue:


Explainer: How to vote and run for local office in Lexington

In years like 2023, when nothing else is on the ballot — no controversial ballot questions, no presidential or state primaries — turnout for Lexington’s Annual Town Election is notoriously low

Lexington’s Annual Town Election will take place on Monday (you read that right—Monday, not Tuesday) March 6, 2023, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Keep reading

Community Submissions

To submit a community announcement, please contact community@lexobserver.org. Thank you!

(And if you’d like to submit a letter to the editor, learn how to do that here!)


That’s a wrap for today. Was this roundup useful to you? What do you want to see in this email next week? Let us know, and please ask your friends to sign up and DONATE too! Reach out to sophie@lexobserver.org with tips and questions anytime. As always, you can also check out and share our websiteTwitterInstagram and Facebook pages. Thanks so much for reading and have a great weekend!


Nicco Mele, Sophie Culpepper, Erin Sandler-Rathe and the LexObserver Team

Edited by Sharon McGowan

Support LexObserver!

The Lexington Observer is a hyperlocal, digital-first news nonprofit. Our mission is to increase understanding and participation in Lexington, Massachusetts through community journalism about our town. Want to support that mission? You can donate below — even better, become a monthly donor!

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