Higgins armory celebration
posted March 12, 2013 7:19 PM   RSS | iCal | +googleCal

Sat April 6 at 10:00 AM, Higgins Armory
100 Barber Avenue, Worcester, MA, USA (Map & Directions)
I was really excited about the idea of having a Higgins Armory meetup, but having never arranged a meetup before and also being a bit remote from the Armory (and not superfamiliar with how a meetup could happen with it), I would require some guidance in arranging one. Also, it was several other people's ideas in the Higgins Armory thread, so I don't want to pretend like I came up with this myself...
I propose a Saturday visit with a spot of lunch afterward or brunch before. Goldstar Diner nearby is excellent, but very small...maybe others who have lived in the area more recently can make suggestions...


see comment of 3-23-13:
date set to 4-6-13 by popular request
eat at O'Connor's?
scavenger hunt?
looking for a count so I can make a res at O'Connor's
anybody else, like someone who can definitely attend, want to steal the reins?



previously on 3-21-13 I must officially waylay the 23rd, as work commitments have eaten my upcoming weekend. I stand aside for any who would like to take this further....sorry for my non-climactic first attempt to make a meetup...
posted by Tandem Affinity to Meetup (47 comments total)

Oh man, if you make this be on the 26th I will come. I live in New Orleans but will be back up in my home state of Massachusetts that week.
posted by Scientist at 7:35 PM on March 12, 2013


I'm also originally from MA and visited as a kid on a school trip. I'm interested depending on the date of the visit.
posted by sciencegeek at 7:43 PM on March 12, 2013


jessamyn and I were talking about this a few weeks ago: Higgins Armory is on our list of places to see. I've lived in MA all my life, and had never heard of it until a Worcester mefite posted something about it on his FB page. I hope I'll be able to make this!
posted by not_on_display at 5:16 AM on March 13, 2013


I've never been and would love to go before it closes. Count me in, if it's a day when I can make it.
posted by bondcliff at 5:53 AM on March 13, 2013


Interested. Don't know if I could go, but interested.
posted by jessamyn at 6:39 AM on March 13, 2013


I'm definitely interested, but our schedule is pretty crazy so I don't know if we'd actually be able to make it.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 7:06 AM on March 13, 2013


This idea is full of awesome! Count me in if I can make it - when are we thinking? My weekends are pretty well spoken for the next month or so. What about April 27 or May 4?

The one restaurant I knew of right near the Armory has apparently closed, but a little further away there are The Sole Proprietor and O'Connor's. Nu Café is nice but similar in character to Panera; no booze available if that's an important factor.
posted by usonian at 7:07 AM on March 13, 2013


I would definitely be interested in this! I would love to go there before it closes.

Weekends are generally better, but other than that my only criteria is that it be relatively soon, as I am 30 weeks pregnant right now.
posted by apricot at 7:52 AM on March 13, 2013


I'd definitely be interested in coming along! I'm a student in Boston so weekends are best for me. Maybe the weekend of March 30 or April 6?

Possible restaurant option: There's a Wild Willy's Burgers just up the street. I've been to the Watertown location and the burgers are yummy and reasonably priced. However, there isn't much on the menu in the way of vegetarian options, so if anybody is vegetarian (?) we should probably look elsewhere.
posted by The Girl Who Ate Boston at 8:33 AM on March 13, 2013


I would definitely be interested in going as well, and should be able to do either of the dates proposed above.

As far as where to potentially eat/drink, the Higgins is in kind of a weird area to go somewhere that's super-nearby. The best and closest option would probably be O'Connors, which is a pretty big restaurant that's divided up in such a way that we may be able to get a section of it to ourselves. They have a pretty good tap selection and a decent vegetarian menu as well, and the Guinness pie named after our Lieutenant Governor is pretty excellent. :)

There's lots of other cool places in town (Worcester's a surprisingly good city to eat your way through), but our ability to go to many of them is sort of wildly dependent on the number of people we have.
posted by rollbiz at 10:22 AM on March 13, 2013


I think any weekend past this immediately upcoming weekend works for me. I'm not much of an early morning person, and I'll be driving up from RI, so I lean towards "food after" rather than "food before", FWIW. Not that I wouldn't get up early for this, mind you.
posted by mstokes650 at 10:39 AM on March 13, 2013


yay, a meetup ten minutes from my house! I've lived here for seven years and have somehow never made it to the Higgins, so count me in if the date is good. all of the dates mentioned so far are fine except for March 26th.

As far as food goes, nothing super-great is especially close to the Higgins. I'd probably recommend the Sole Proprietor or The People's Kitchen, or maybe Funky Murphy's.
posted by xbonesgt at 1:03 PM on March 13, 2013


I'd drive to Woostah for that! Er, what about littles? My boys would adore it, but not willing to inflict small ones on strangers for brunch/linner. At the same time, would love to actually meet Mefites.
posted by marmot at 6:54 PM on March 13, 2013


Oops. Scratch April 27 for me.
posted by usonian at 8:34 AM on March 14, 2013


I was dragged to the Higgins many times growing up. I also have littles, and maybe this would be a good (last) time to bring them. Not sure on the ages of your boys, marmot, but maybe we could break away for the meal if the other MeFites skew too sophisticated. (My boys are 7 & 4). Saturdays are doable, but Sundays are best.
posted by cocoagirl at 9:00 AM on March 15, 2013


I can't go the 23rd of March and I can't go the weekend of Apr 19-21. But Usonian & I would totally love to go to the Armory (first time for me) and see all the awesome and face-time some mefites. I've heard good things about O'Connors independent of its crowd-friendliness. Dunno if it's convenient for distance though.
posted by Lou Stuells at 10:43 AM on March 15, 2013


I can't do the weekend of April 19 or April 27. I also have another meetup on March 24th (actually a choice between two different meetups... big flood of NE meetups these days) but other than that most weekend days are good.

I would possibly bring my son to the armory (and my wife would probably go too) if he's interested and if nobody minds, but these days if the swords aren't of the Jedi variety he might not be interested. If he's with me I would probably not go out afterwards unless I make arrangements to get him home.
posted by bondcliff at 11:03 AM on March 15, 2013


Cocoagirl, whoa! My boys are 6.5 and 3, so right in the wheelhouse. Perfect!

Have we reached date consensus? I like April 6-7, myself.
posted by marmot at 6:43 AM on March 16, 2013


Hi all , didn't mean to drop out right after I had started this, but job ate my week. Anyway, I am leaning toward the 23rd for the date because the armory is open longer on Saturdays and for those that can't make it, another Higgins Armory meetup can be arranged even sooner!

Other details:
I'm leaning toward O'Connor's as an eating place - easy to get to or from the Armory (comparedly and as mentioned, nothing is really near there....), good size, good parking...I will try to make a reservation once better numbers are known.

Does anybody know anything about a scavenger hunt that is mentioned on the internets...I can't find anything official at the museum's website, but I think it would be a great way to enjoy the museum...

Alright, so in sum who can make it on the 23rd and also wanted to go to O'Connors?
posted by Tandem Affinity at 1:44 PM on March 16, 2013


Man, next weekend is the official Metafilter Meetup Weekend of Massachusetts.

(I suppose Massachusetts has an official state everything else. Why not?)
posted by maryr at 2:50 PM on March 16, 2013


Can't make it for the 23rd. Darn.
posted by sciencegeek at 3:13 PM on March 16, 2013


Unfortunately, I can't make the 23rd.
posted by The Girl Who Ate Boston at 7:42 AM on March 17, 2013


Alas, I can't make the 23rd either - but given the amount of interest, and given that we have until the end of the year there's no reason there can't be another one in a couple of months!
posted by usonian at 1:12 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


I don't think I can make the 23rd either, but I am interested in going at some point.
posted by bondcliff at 4:48 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


I also can't make the 23rd but would be interested in a future date!
posted by chowflap at 8:55 AM on March 18, 2013


I should be able to do the 23rd.
posted by mstokes650 at 1:29 PM on March 18, 2013


Would LOVE to do this. Cant do the 23rd, but open to future dates - Apr 6 works for me
posted by darsh at 3:38 PM on March 20, 2013


Alright, so if the 23rd's out (and it looks like I might've been the only one making it then anyways), what about moving it to the 6th? Seems like that was a good date for a lot of folks.
posted by mstokes650 at 8:42 PM on March 21, 2013


6 April looks a lot better to me.
posted by not_on_display at 9:10 PM on March 21, 2013


I think April 6th would work.
posted by sciencegeek at 5:02 AM on March 22, 2013


I could do April 6th as well.
posted by rollbiz at 8:58 AM on March 22, 2013


April 6 is good here.
posted by cocoagirl at 2:54 AM on March 23, 2013


Apr 6 hell yeah.
posted by Lou Stuells at 5:58 AM on March 23, 2013


I might be able to do the 6th.
posted by bondcliff at 8:29 AM on March 23, 2013


Alright, April 6th seems to have it -- I will update it. There is a good chance that I will not be able to make April 6th myself but I am happy to continue participating in arranging! (although that seems kind of goofy so if someone else wants to take over leadership, more power to you!) I will update the date to the April 6th and see if any committers latch on!
posted by Tandem Affinity at 8:27 PM on March 23, 2013


Bummed that the original proposer of this meetup can't make it that day, but if this winds up being the day, I can almost definitely go.

I'd be happy to try to pick up some of the planning aspect, but...

The planning part seems to be actually pretty well-planned (thank you Tandem Affinity!), so I'm not sure how much work there is at this point...Trying to reserve something at O'Connors, maybe?

Otherwise, it's well within my capabilities to just get there early and stand outside in my Metafilter t-shirt and then go look at cool stuff, and I do know the city pretty well in general...
posted by rollbiz at 12:02 AM on March 24, 2013 [1 favorite]


Woo! My second meetup, at an amazing place no less.

unless you consider my life one long unending meetup because I am married to a fellow mefite.
posted by Lou Stuells at 8:27 AM on March 24, 2013 [2 favorites]


Thanks, rollbiz; I will keep you updated if i can actually make it, but it's nice to know there is an alternate pointman!
posted by Tandem Affinity at 7:07 PM on March 24, 2013


Eeeexcept I have to bail because I didn't realize that this is the same weekend I have guests visiting from out of town. Sorry to be a lamewad. But, I doubt this will be the last Armory excursion, and I'll get to the next one.
posted by Lou Stuells at 8:25 AM on March 30, 2013


Unfortunately I am tied up with another event that day - we'll just have to organize round 2 in the next couple of months.
posted by usonian at 9:22 AM on April 1, 2013


It being little league season, my Saturdays are now pretty much booked up until 2016 or thereabouts. On the plus side, I get to sit still out in the cold for several hours three times a week. So there's that.
posted by bondcliff at 7:54 AM on April 2, 2013


There's some discontent in the sciencegeek household about traveling this weekend. It appears that we'll be staying at home and making this particular pilgrimage on another, less contested, weekend.
posted by sciencegeek at 6:04 PM on April 4, 2013


Gonna hafta switch myself to a 'maybe', a relative of mine got an offer on her house in only 2 days (!) so now she needs help moving all her stuff in a hurry, which I may get drafted for Saturday.
posted by mstokes650 at 7:27 AM on April 5, 2013


I am going to be on the road while this meetup is going on. I look forward to Round 2 of this meetup. Any weekend from April 19 to whenever looks okay to me, with the exception of June 1-2.

When are they closing their doors?
posted by not_on_display at 3:23 PM on April 5, 2013


So is anyone actually still planning to attend tomorrow?
posted by rollbiz at 4:10 PM on April 5, 2013


The Higgins remains open through the end of the year, not_on_display
posted by rollbiz at 4:11 PM on April 5, 2013


OK, so the chorus of folks in the past week or so have all been folks who were bowing out or unsure, and the only person besides me who had confirmed attendance is not sure they can attend...At this point, I think it's a good juncture to reschedule.

Can folks sound in on weekends that might work for them, and we can figure out a new time?

Personally, I'd rather do a bit sooner rather than later because when the great weather fully hits, I spend a lot of summer weekends doing outreach work, but I'm open to whatever...
posted by rollbiz at 8:34 PM on April 5, 2013



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