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☀️ Inside Truro's Two-Student 6th Grade

☀️ Inside Truro's Two-Student 6th Grade

Plus: 20 years of meatballs and memories comes to a close

Cape Coddah
March 13, 2026

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Good morning Cape Cod. It's Friday the 13th AND the weekend before St. Patrick's Day, which means every bar from Bourne to Provincetown is about to be absolutely packed with people who suddenly remember their great-grandmother was 1/8th Irish. Cheers! ☘️ 🍻

In this week’s Cape Coddah:

The million dollar stairs
Ex-bus driver gets 90 days
Events and live music

Let’s get to it.

⚖️ Residents vs. Investors Over Cape Park

Al MacDonald, 76, a retired general contractor, faced off against investors at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on March 2 over who has the right to buy The Park at Pocasset, a 36-acre Bourne community with about 80 occupied homes.

Crown Communities LLC, a Wyoming-based firm whose founder Alexander Cabot descends from Boston industrialist Godfrey Lowell Cabot, sued residents after they exercised their right of first refusal when the park went up for sale in November 2019 for $3.8M.

Over five years of legal battles, at least one resident has died and MacDonald moved away, frustrated by deteriorating conditions. Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell filed an amicus brief supporting residents, who await the court's final decision on their fight for ownership. Read more»

📝 Inside Truro's Two-Student Sixth Grade

Truro Central School's sixth grade started with two students, briefly had three, and is back to two, part of a struggle to keep families from leaving for Nauset Regional Middle School in Orleans after fifth grade.

To encourage enrollment, administrators created "Edventures," an experiential learning program with field trips to animal shelters, artists' studios, and the Cape Cod Canal. Parents appreciate the one-on-one attention, but some worry about the lack of peers.

The financial motivation is significant: keeping sixth grade saves Truro money. School-choice students cost $5,000 each versus $23,801.24 for tuition students if the grade closed entirely.

Former school committee chair Kolby Blehm called it a "pretend" sixth grade, while current chair Vida Richter defended it as "very active, very vibrant." Two fifth-graders have committed for next year. Read more»

SPONSORED BY: CAPE SZN

❤️ Small Towns, Big Love

Cape Cod isn't just one vibe, each town has its own personality. These classic tees let you wear your town with pride. "Home" or "Local" on the back, your favorite Cape spot front and center. Soft, simple, and perfect for reminding everyone where you'd rather be.

💰 The Million Dollar Stairs

The wood stairway to Cape Cod National Seashore's Marconi Beach, rebuilt less than a year ago, is already straining against erosion after February's blizzard swept sand from underneath the landing.

Since 2001, the stairs have been replaced five times at an estimated $1M cost, with the most recent $124,000 iteration funded by Friends of Cape Cod National Seashore after a $246,000 rebuild in 2024.

Marconi Beach has lost approximately 377 feet from in front of the parking lot and bathhouse since 1947, with a nearby bluff losing 36 feet in just four years. The beach serves roughly 150,000 visitors annually, with 2,000 on summer days.

"Every time we sit around this table, we ask, 'Is there a better way?'" said Seashore historian William Burke. Read more»

📸 @sunburnt_photography |📍Skaket Beach

Tag @thecapecoddah to get your photos in the Coddah!

🛒 Behind the Beach Paradise, Thousands Struggle

Victoria, 34, slept in her car for seven months while working 50 hours weekly at Cape Cod cafes, unable to afford a one-bedroom rental. When winter layoffs came, the Wellfleet Food Pantry became her lifeline, until a couple she met there offered her a place to stay.

She's one of thousands struggling beneath Cape Cod's vacation paradise veneer. The Family Pantry of Cape Cod serves 800 people weekly, while Provincetown's unemployment rate hit 23% in February 2025, six times higher than July and twice the Great Recession's national peak.

The Lower Cape Outreach Council logged 20,500 visits last year, four times its 2019 level. Housing costs drive the crisis: median single-family home prices jumped from $433,000 in 2019 to $730,000 in 2023, with over a third of homes seasonal or short-term rentals. Read more»

The USPS released a new Forever stamp honoring Barnstable-born Mercy Otis Warren, the revolutionary-era writer and historian whose political writings helped inspire American independence.

Cape Cod potato chips is launching a new Lemon Herb Butter flavor for spring, featuring the brand's signature kettle chip base dusted with butter, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, and lemon juice concentrate.

The Town of Barnstable is seeking logo designs from artists of all ages and abilities for its MA250 celebration of the nation's 250th birthday, with submissions due by March 23.

Brewster presented a draft short-term rental bylaw Monday establishing a registration system with inspections and $100-$300 fines, with application fees expected around $250-$300 to cover staffing costs.

🍝 20 Years of Meatballs & Memories

DiParma Italian Table in West Yarmouth closed its doors Monday after over 20 years, according to a Facebook post from the business that drew hundreds of emotional comments from regulars mourning favorite dishes like the house white balsamic vinaigrette, meatballs, angry pasta, and Shrimp Marko, created by an employee's son.

The restaurant opened in 2008 at 175 Route 28, known for Italian staples from fried calamari to chicken parmesan and pizza. Customers shared memories of rehearsal dinners, proposals, New Year's Eves, and Friday night lemon drop martinis at the bar.

Catering services will continue through sister restaurant Yarmouth House, with the post encouraging patrons to visit fellow establishments Scally's and Tap City Grille. "While this chapter is coming to an end, our story certainly isn't," the post read. Read more»

Nantucket's Old South Diner sold its fourth lottery jackpot-winning ticket in two years on Wednesday when a local won $2M on a scratch-off, joining three other winners who claimed $1-2M prizes at the restaurant since March 2024.

Dozens gathered Saturday at the MV Museum to watch the 170-year-old Fresnel lens from Gay Head lighthouse, turn on for the first time in years, with descendants of former Wampanoag lighthouse keepers and singer Kate Taylor celebrating the rare lighting of the "fire on the beach."

Dozens of Nantucket homeowners say electricity bills soared, immediately after National Grid installed new smart meters beginning in October 2025, but the utility denies the meters are responsible.

The Martha's Vineyard Regional High School committee voted Monday on a level debt-funding model for the $333.4M renovation, distributing $258M in local costs nearly equally over 30 years with tax increases ranging from just under $500 annually in Edgartown to just under $1,000 in Aquinnah.

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⚖️ Ex-Barnstable Bus Driver Gets 90 Days

Jeffrey Hyland, a former Barnstable schools bus driver from West Yarmouth, was sentenced Monday to 90 days in Barnstable County Correctional Facility and five years probation after pleading guilty to aggravated indecent assault and battery and reckless endangerment of a child.

Hyland, 80 at the time of his September 14, 2023 arrest, was charged after police received a report from a female juvenile alleging assault by her bus driver and found corroborating evidence. He was indicted on two felony charges February 16, 2024, and pleaded guilty August 11, 2025, with charges reduced to misdemeanors.

He also pleaded guilty to intimidation against a witness, juror, police or court official, serving the same sentence concurrently. Read more»

👋 Meet: Bugle
🐾 Beagle Mix
🎂 4 years old
♀︎ Male
Available to adopt at MSCPA-Cape Cod

SUNDAY - MARCH 15

Jazz Jam @ Cult. Cent. of CC | 12 PM
Josh Ayala @ Love Farms | 1 PM
George Spalt @ The Lanyard | 2 PM
Ensemble Passacaglia @ Brewster Ladies | 2 PM
Divine Invitations @ Arts Empowering Life | 3:30
Golden Lane @ Highfield Hall | 4 PM
Salt Marsh Quartet @ CC MOA | 4 PM
Christine Fawson @ W. Falmouth Library | 4 PM
Cody Bondra @ Margaritaville | 7 PM

_{Nothing in this section is sponsored. We'll let you know when something's sponsored.}

Friday

39 🌡️ 34 | 🌥️ | 💧 6% | 💨 WSW 10 mph

Saturday

48 🌡️ 29 | 🌤️ | 💧 1% | 💨 WSW 17 mph

Sunday

41 🌡️ 37 | ⛅️ | 💧 3% | 💨 ENE 8 mph

💧🌡️ Water temperature = 38ºF

7 Sea Street, Harwich Port
Asking $4.75M
4 🛏️
2.5 🛁
2,447 sqft
0.23 acre lot

_{Nothing in this section is sponsored. We'll always let you know when something's sponsored.}

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