Step into a former bank vault in downtown Lynn, and instead of safe-deposit boxes you’ll find a 150-seat black-box theatre buzzing before showtime. That’s the home of Stand Up Stick Up, Lynn’s monthly comedy show at The Neal Rantoul Vault Theatre. The next edition lands this Thursday, June 25, with doors at 7:30 p.m. and the show at 8:00 p.m.

We grabbed our cameras and headed to the Point this June — and watched Eternal October Salem take a big step. The city’s only Black-owned alternative brand cut the ribbon on its new storefront inside North Shore CDC’s retail pop-up incubator at 104 Lafayette Street. A pink ribbon, oversized scissors, neighbors packed into the mural-covered courtyard, pizza and cold drinks

About Coming Into The Light Edition Sevening (v.): the act of showing up after seven(ish) — for your people, your community, and honestly yourself, somewhere in Essex County. New to sevening? Me too. The stars have charted the full definition in our About Time Edition. The rest of you are already in alignment. Oh hey there, Essex County. Nothing’s in

Sevenings: About Overflowing Edition Sevening (v.): the act of showing up after seven(ish) — for your people, your community, and honestly yourself in Essex County. We’ve been sevening it up. Brand new? We love newbs! Check out the whole def in our About Time Edition.  Oh hey there, Essex County. Drag out your cauldron. Actually, summon up two — because

About Being Seen Edition Sevening (v.): showing up after seven(ish) for your people, your community, and honestly yourself in Essex County. You know the rest. Oh hey there, Essex County. We see you. No really. We actually see you. You been seen. For realsies. You may have noticed, but something has shifted (this edition, silly) — not in what we

Sevenings: About Having Arrived Edition Sevening (v.): the act of showing up after seven(ish) — for your people, your community, and honestly yourself in Essex County. The whole definition? That’s in our About Time Edition. Def go check it out. We’ll be here. Oh, hey there, Essex County. You got caught! You were out there sevening last week, weren’t you?

sev·en·ing /ˈsev·ən·ing/ v. The act of showing up after seven(ish). Of showing up for your people, your community, your neighbors, your county, and, honestly, yourself. Being in Essex County, where all the weird, wild, wonderful, and worth showing up for things happen when the evening opens up, and anything becomes possible. Considered by some to be the ancient and underrated

On Saturday, April 18, eighty people showed up to Spinelli’s Function Hall in Peabody — dressed sharp, hearts open — for the North Shore Juneteenth Association’s annual Hats, Heels, Bow Ties, & Blazers Tea. And what unfolded over that afternoon was exactly what happens when an organization puts as much intention into building community as it does into celebrating it.

April vacation in Essex County this year? Completely, utterly, embarrassingly stacked. We’re talking live reptiles at a museum, slime in three scientific variations, unicorn potions, an 18th-century sailor’s medicine kit, cedar bark weaving by a Wampanoag artist, a witchy portrait session, free admission to one of Salem’s most storied landmarks, and a story about the first elephant to ever set

By John Andrews, Creative Collective MA Journee LaFond stood in front of a sold-out theater in Salem on Transgender Day of Visibility. They said, “I am planting the seeds of a forest that I’m not gonna see.” That was Day One of GRAYSCALE. There were still two days left, and already, the atmosphere felt transformed. I wrote the first version