The Arsenal Center for the Arts hosts Improv Jones Boston tonight at 8 p.m. Audience participation is a big part of the show so be ready to play. The Recreation Department hosts an open gym at Watetown Middle School tonight at 6:30 p.m. Students will have the opportunity to use the gym for a variety of sports and games such as basketball, volleyball, floor hockey, etc. Watertown Youth Hockey presents the 2011 Turkey Shoot and Silent Auction today at 7 p.m. at Hibernian Hall. The event features raffles, a silent auction and 50/50 raffle. Children ages 3 to 5 are invited to the Watertown Free …

A sampling of front yards in Watertown decorated for the season—be it Halloween or harvest time.

Several hundred visitors checked out three large group exhibits areas and several private studios throughout Watertown last Saturday and Sunday, appreciating the work of several dozen artists and craftspeople who live or create art in Watertown.

Since 2009, the History Room in the Watertown Free Public Library has featured several hundred books by authors connected with Watertown. Flip through the photo gallery to see their work.

When the weather turned balmy this week, we went out to see how people (and animals) were enjoying the sun and warmth along the river.

Last Sunday, several homeowners gave tours of their yards, to spread the word about how simple – and fruitful – it can be to use less oil-based pesticides and chemicals, to create yards and gardens that are safer for kids, pets and wildlife, and that also preserve clean groundwater. We visited three of them.

Folk Arts Center of New England holds a folk dance gathering every Thursday night at the First Parish Church in Watertown. It features mostly request dancing, so some prior international folk dance experience is helpful. But it's a friendly group and some people come and watch and imitate some dances while joining in others. Singles are welcome.

People in Watertown were happy to show off their tattoos. After all, it's one reason for having some body art, right?

As everyone knows, almost anything can be put on the curb for weekly trash pick up in Watertown – well, almost anything. But that is supposed to change next year, if a new policy is adopted. 

The Friends of Mount Auburn (Cemetery) gathered at Washington Tower in the cemetery to celebrate 25 years of their supporting the cemetery and its world-renowned landscape, by tasting a half-dozen wines from Magnolia Wine Co. on Belmont St. and hors d'oeuvres from Sensational Foods Catering on Bigelow Ave.

The Watertown Recreation Department conducts the Pequossette Summer Program for children in grades 1 to 8 in two-week sessions from June 29 through Aug. 19. The kids are organized into eight different groups, and there are some 50 counselors. "I always like to overstaff," says Program Director Bob Galante.

Several hundred people turned out for the Watertown Summer Concert Series on July 28, featuring Paul Rishell & Annie Raines and Mojo Rodeo. The concerts happen every Thursday through the summer in Salstonstall Park, with a rain venue of the Watertown Public Library. Call 617-972-6431 after 4:30PM on concert day for rain information.

We pass them almost every day, often without knowing that they even exist, much less what they commemorate or celebrate. But there's a reason these grand and elemental stones and bronze plaques exist.

Watertown has had its share of historic events and people – from the founding of the country to its wars, treaties, and celebrations. Here are some of the memorials, monuments, and plaques "hidden" throughout the town that commemorate and celebrate these events.

Gardens don't have to be big or fancy to be beautiful, as we found out cruising around town admiring some front yards.

Watertown residents now have a place to raise vegetables and plant flowers with the opening of  Watertown Gardens. The community garden, located at 103 Nichols Ave., came about through the collaboration of local organizations: Trees for Watertown, Watertown Community Foundation, Boston Tree Party and Watertown Citizens for Environmental Safety and the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts’ Life Together program, through the Church of the Good Shepherd in Watertown. For more information about getting a plot in the garden, go to the community garden's website.

Another visual puzzle, this time of familiar signs around Watertown. They're all well-known national companies. Not that we're promoting them – it's just a visual game.

Not everyone wants to join a team and play organized sports. Many kids have fun and get exercise in casual, pick-up, and made-up games.

Some scenes on a typical weekday along the Charles River, from the Cambridge border near Greenough Boulevard to just west of Watertown Square.

ALMA has more than 20,000 works of art in its permanent collection, from antique textiles, jewelry, manuscripts, and rugs, to oral histories from the Armenian Genocide in 1915-16 and exhibits of contemporary art. They're rotated every few months in its rooms and halls.