by Melanie Gilbert

I didn’t expect to fall in love with Lowell.

But the city and its people have a way of winning over folks with warmth, quirky charm and a fierce hometown pride.

Friday was my last day as reporter with The Lowell Sun, which makes this a good time to send a love letter to the city that gave me a place to call home for the past five years.

Motor City to the Mill City

From the jump, I felt comfortable in this city. My roots were in Detroit, a gritty car town that had an industrial vibe not unlike the mill history of Lowell. Both had seen their respective businesses decimated by mid-century economic upheaval that had threatened their financial viability.

 

Both fought back. I like brawlers, and Lowell was a city that knew how to put up its dukes.

Even the landscape felt like home. I grew up near the Detroit River. Though it didn’t have a 32-foot drop like the Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimack River, it still was an impressive body of water with a dangerous current. Living around large bodies of swirling water makes one feel both insignificant and larger than life.

Detroit had the soaring Ambassador Bridge, which offered panoramic views – as did the Rourke Bridge – albeit without the white-knuckled drive.

And Detroit was founded by French colonists from Montreal and Quebec, so I was familiar with French street names, churches and schools that also populated Lowell’s neighborhoods. We had a thriving Greektown where I used to buy spanakopita for my night shift at the Detroit News, and Mexicantown, where I scored the best empanadas this side of the border.

Like Lowell, Detroit had lots of immigrants, old architecture, crazy narrow streets, lots of snow and constant struggles with its municipal budget and services. Lowell checked a lot of familiar boxes for me.

I felt like I could tackle this beat with one hand tied behind my back.

Man, did I have a lot to learn.

Unlike Detroit, Lowell had clearly defined neighborhoods with longstanding family roots and resident ties that kept the city grounded in good and bad times. People here fought for each other and their hometown.

I had to tap into that live-wire current, but had no idea how.

Learning the ropes

Thank goodness for Gerry Nutter, then morning show host of WCAP 980 AM radio station. He was one of the first people to reach out to me and invite me on the show. In those early days, Gerry saved my smarty-pants bacon by introducing me to Lowell.

Later, InsideLowell’s Teddy Panos invited me on his no-holds-barred podcast, exposing me to an even wider audience of tough listeners.

John McDonough invited me on “City Life,” which had a loyal – and surprisingly vocal – audience.

These guys made this girl a player in her own right, and I am grateful for their friendship.

Introductions

I wasn’t a Lowellian by birth or geography, and I got ribbed about that.

But Lowell is a city founded on and driven by relationships and good manners. At-large City Councilor Rita Mercier helped me break the ice on the council floor. At my very first meeting in June 2022, she introduced herself and took me around to meet her colleagues.

I never forgot her old-school example and kindness.

Personal outreach

The paper’s frenetic, deadline-driven pace didn’t always allow for a stop-and-smell-the-roses approach, but plenty of people in town looked after me.

Over cups of coffee, former City Councilor Paul Ratha Yem, Councilors Vesna Nuon and Belinda Juran, City Manager Tom Golden, real estate developer Jeff Bush, Jen Myers of the Lowell Public Schools, Mikaela Hondros-McCarthy (and her dad), and Michael and Linda Gallagher were just some of the people who got to know me outside the newspaper while at the same time they gently helped expand my understanding of how Lowell worked.

Community helpers

Cliff Kreiger wrote me early on to correct my understanding of something and it led to a vibrant correspondence that continues to this day.

Helen Littlefield was a sharp-eyed reader who helped me tighten my story copy both grammatically and factually. Thank you, Helen.

Likewise, David McCabe called out little details he thought needed noting, which were usually spot on.

Ryan Faria offered his help understanding budgets and elections, which I leaned on over the years.

I got many calls and emails from people who felt disenfranchised and forgotten, aggrieved and misunderstood. People who were celebrating life milestones and hard-won victories. I listened to them all. Not all the news happens in the dozens of city meetings.

Sometimes, it happens on the street. I thank all those residents – both housed and unhoused – for sharing their stories with me.

Speaking of the street, my thanks to Downtown Lowell resident Jim Pope for telling me about the nooks and crannies of the Market Street area, which gave me the flavor of historic Lowell.

Signing off

I grew up one of eight in a working-class neighborhood with a stay-at-home mom in a one-car family. I was a Pell Grant student. I have never not worked and I have never forgotten where I came from.

Lowell tapped into that reservoir of pride and accomplishment in me. It is a city of strivers and people who know who they belong to. I like that about Lowell.

To The Lowell Sun: Thank you for giving me a platform and trusting me to tell the stories of this city. And thanks to my colleagues – I couldn’t have done any of this without you, either. I loved every minute of it.

Thank you to all the people of Lowell – many of whom aren’t named here, but who reached out with a story, a scoop, a rank or a compliment – you helped me to write the stories of the city.

It was my honor and joy to write for you. I don’t know where my next steps will take me, but with any luck it’ll somehow be connected to the Mill City.