For the 1st Light Festival, Brookline stores joined the community in celebrating the upcoming holidays. Organized by the Brookline Economic Development Department, the Light Festival aims at promoted local stores for holiday shopping. At least 60 businesses participated in the festivities. Giveaways, food, and entertainment were provided. The younger participants could also partake in a town-wide scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt officially ends on December 3.

Rather than have us show you who is a hero in Brookline, we’re asking you to show us. Dig out those old photos, whether they’re in a box or on your desktop, and upload them here. Upload your photos here, tell us who they are and why they are your hero. To get started, click the big "Submit your Photos & Videos" button above and below. If you need inspiration, check out what Camp Pendleton Patch put together on their site.  Even after Veterans Day ends, this article will stick around. Let's make an online tribute to the brave men and women in town who are, and continue, to fight for our …

Each year, Halloween is a chance for kids to dress up as their favorite characters and go out around the neighborhood trick-or-treating. This makes Halloween into an extremely photogenic holiday. For example, Cause to Paws hosted their own Coolidge Corner Halloween Candy Giveaway, with kids in costume. Patch wants to know how you celebrated your halloween. 

Take a walking tour around Brookline to discover some of the town's historical sites and learn about the slaves, slave-owners and abolitionists who lived here.

The Viewfinder column gives you an interesting, behind-the-scenes, or sometimes just fresh view of the things that happen in Brookline. Since the column began, there have been a number of wild, weird, and wonderful things caught in the lens. Here are ten favorites (listed in no particular order).  Quiet in the Libraries Behind the Wheel Bottoms up! Tutto Italiano The Dude Abides at Coolidge Corner Theatre Brookline Community Band Sick as a Dog Scenes from the Chestnut Hill Reservoir Musical Mommy and Me Behind Brookline's Romance Industry For these adventures and more, see the rest of the …

Those who work at the Brookline Animal Hospital are kept busy on a daily basis with the steady flow of animals coming through for medical problems, tests and grooming. Kristin Coppola, one of several certified veterinary technicians at the animal hospital, has been working in the field for the past 11 years. She says the demand for veterinary technicians is huge right now. "You always need that one extra experienced person and they're just not out there," she says. Being a veterinary technician doesn't require the years of schooling that it take to be a veterinarian but the job can often be …

People come to Brookline's Libraries for books, newspapers, internet or sometimes just a quiet space to work.

"I find them really interesting to watch," says Marc Harpin who has a beehive in the backyard of his Brookline home. Harpin says he and his husband set up their hive in the spring of 2010 after taking a class run by Reseska Apiaries. Although they have not yet harvested any honey from the hive Harpin says he has so far enjoyed simply watching the bees go through the seasons. In the summer the population booms and in the winter it falls back down again. "Kind of like a big clock," he says. Harpin says they expect to harvest 1-2 pounds of honey from their hive this year, and that a healthy hive…

"You can go to almost any major city in the country and find a barefoot boogie," says Rose Ward, one of the facilitators of Dance Friday, an event held each Friday at Brookline Tai Chi. According to the organization's website "Dance Friday is a place to dance barefoot, however you like, with or without a partner, to all kinds of music, in a smoke- and alcohol-free space." An offshoot of one of the original "barefoot boogies" called Dance Freedom, Dance Friday has existed for over 35 years and has built up a community of people, some of whom have been attending since the beginning. "I …

Acupuncture is a method of alternative medicine which is beleived to relieve pain, treat medical conditions, relieve stress and promote health. Take a look at some acupuncture practices in Brookline to see how a treament is performed.

Whether it's to jog, bike or just enjoy the view, many people enjoy spending time at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir in the summer.

Students participated in a floral design workshop called "Keeping it Local" at Brookline High School Wednesday evening through Brookline's Adult and Community Education Program. The workshop featured flowers which can be found locally in the New England area, and taught students how to create an arrangement, as well as care for the arrangements and flowers. Instructor Laurie Marino of You Make it and Take It offers these classes once a month. Marino has a bachelors in adult education and a masters in education and instructional design. 

This past weekend, amid torrential rains, the Larz Anderson Auto Museum held their Italian car show: Tutto Italiano. The museum has been holding weekly car shows between May and October for the past sixteen years. Normally attracting around 5,000 visitors, the car shows allow owners the chance to have their cars judged against other cars in the same class. Although the rain kept many people away, many others still decided to attend the event despite the downpour. Visitors perused the cars protected by raincoats and umbrellas, taking a break indoors to check out the museum's exhibits when the …

"It's a phenomenon," says Coolidge Corner Theater Program Manager Jesse Hassinger. "It's hard to say what specifically is such a draw." According to Hassinger, the Coolidge Corner Theater's summer screening of the cult favorite The Big Lebowski has sold out now for the past five years. Hassinger thinks part of the film's appeal has to do with the fact that it's well written and has a great cast. "People love quoting along," says Hassinger, who estimates he's seen the film 15-20 times himself.

Flip through the photos to check out some of the dry cleaning/tailoring establishments around Brookline and to hear about the people who work there.

On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, students gather at St. Paul's Episcopal Church to participate in the ancient Chinese martial art of tai chi. According to teacher Dana Buck, "tai chi is a set of slow continuous, evenly paced and carefully patterned natual movements based upon the principle of shifting one's weight while keeping the body stable and upright." Buck has been practicing tai chi for the past 20 years. She started by learning from a martial arts teacher in New Hampshire and then began taking workshops from Tung Kai Ying a 3rd generation Chinese master (3rd generation meaning that …

In an effort to separate North Brookline's sewer and storm-drain systems, the town of Brookline has embarked on a sewer project that could last up to two years. Work sites for the project are located mainly along Beacon Street and a few nearby roads. Workers at the sites say the hardest part of their job is just dealing with the weather. Whether it be dealing with the heat of summer or the freezing temperatures and snow in winter, working outside can be a difficult job. For more information on the sewer project see the article: Beacon Street Road Work Could Last Two Years

As part of their Summer Saturday Workshop series, the Puppet Showplace Theater held a family puppet workshop for children ages five and up and their parents. Participants first practiced using their imaginations to make puppets come to life before performing with actual puppets onstage. At the end of the workshop, they put on a performance of the American folk tale of Paul Bunyan. Next month's workshop, entitled "Junk Puppets" will feature puppet building from recycled materials.

Step into the kitchens of some of Brookline's pizza places to watch a ball of dough be transformed into the perfect pie.

The First Corps of Cadets Band of Brookline is a volunteer organization with a history going all the way back to World War II when it originated as a "US Coastguard Temporary Reserve band that played at military and civic functions in the Boston area." (from a history of the Firs Corps of Cadets Band compiled by Richard Robb) Today, the band is informally known as the Brookline Community Band as they hold rehearsals in Brookline and many of its members are from the area. The band rehearses once a week at the Devotion School on Harvard Street and gives a concert roughly every two months, …