Friday, May 1st, 2026 | Edition #30
GOOD MORNING, WARWICK. Congratulations: you made it to May. You also made it to Edition #30 of The Warwick Wake Up, which means if you've been here from the start, I've taken away roughly five hours of your life. You could have read a book, learned a few songs on the piano, or assembled the desk I'm currently typing from. You know, the one from Wayfair that came in 700 pieces and took exactly as long as it sounds. Instead, you started your day here. I'll take it.
When I started TWWU in January, I genuinely didn't know if anyone would read it. Turns out, a few of you do. And you keep coming back, which means more to me than I can say without getting weird about it. So I'll just say: thank you.
Warwick is, in my questionably relevant opinion, one of the most underrated places in Rhode Island to live and explore. I'm excited to keep writing about its quirks, its chaos, and the people who make it worth paying attention to. Speaking of milestones, TWWU just crossed 300 subscribers, right on cue for Edition #30. Thank you for your replies, your attention (which is genuinely hard to earn these days), and for caring about this city as much as I do.
This has always been an experiment. It might not last forever. But I hope you enjoy it while it does.
Enough of the hoopla (verbal meme). Here's what we've got goin' ahn
TODAY’S SNAPSHOT
📅 Welcome to May! The best month of the year.
⏱️ Sunset Time: 7:43PM
🌕 Moon Phase: Full Moon - watch out for the nitwits tonight.
⛽ Avg. Gas Price: $4.18. Goodness gracious. (click here to find the cheapest gas near you)
💧 Chance of Rain: 0%
WHAT’S GOIN’ AHN
🫨 Local Mayhem.
In case you’ve been too busy TikTok-ing, Rhode Island had a week.
Highway ramps falling on train tracks, 130-year-old buildings crumbling off onto Main Street, dust devils ripping through Winslow Park. Measles is back. Rectal cancer is on the rise. The local municipalities have been surrounded by mayhem. And that’s without even mentioning a single thing that Tom Llamas has had to say on NBC’s Nightly News this week… The whole thing is giving "everything is fine" meme energy, except nothing is fine and we live here. (see below)
The good news: the trains are running again, Main Street reopened, nobody got hurt, and you're reading this, which means Warwick is still standing. For now.
🪙 Warwick's Budget Balancing Act
The city is heading into a special City Council meeting Monday, May 4 with a tricky and recurring question: how to cover rising school construction costs without going broke in the process. The administration wants to pull about $5 million a year from the city's Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) trust to bridge the gap until the state reimburses Warwick for half the construction costs, which won't happen until the schools are actually finished. So the city needs money now for schools that aren't done yet, to eventually get paid back for schools that aren't done yet. Very normal stuff.
Council Finance Committee Chair Ed Ladouceur isn't fully convinced, and Mayor Picozzi has acknowledged the city needs at least four years of relief to avoid draining its $30 million in reserves. The FY27 budget gets finalized next week. Warwick is essentially doing what a lot of households do when the bills pile up: looking around, doing some math, and calling grandma for assistance.
🌪️ Dust Devil at Winslow Park
Image: WJAR
A rare dust devil touched down at Winslow Park Sunday afternoon, right in the middle of a youth soccer game, and Warwick delivered its most chaotic weather moment since, well, a few months ago when 3 feet of snow buried us.
Eyewitnesses said people near it had no idea how to react, with some sprinting away and others running straight into it. A piece of sheet metal went airborne. The game, for the record, kept going.
A local meteorologist said when he first saw the video, he genuinely thought it was AI-generated because dust devils are that uncommon in New England. To be clear: this is a weather event so rare in Rhode Island that a trained meteorologist's first instinct was to assume it was fake. The kids on the field, meanwhile, shrugged it off and kept playing. Who said Gen Z is turning “soft?” Warwick youth soccer is built different.
Image: WPRI
A video that went viral earlier this week showed a person walking down Main Street in West Warwick at 2 AM in what appeared to be a white robe and pointed hood, drawing national media attention and sparking real concern in the community. Businesses along Main Street posted their surveillance footage. People were rightfully unsettled. The story made national news.
After dedicating significant investigative resources, West Warwick police determined two brothers staged the whole thing in an effort to generate attention on social media. Both admitted to their involvement, provided evidence confirming they were the only ones responsible, and explicitly denied any affiliation with hate groups. Police found no evidence to suggest otherwise and filed no charges. The investigation is closed. They got their viral moment. Safe to say it didn't go the way they planned.
WEATHAH THIS WEEKEND
QUICK HITTERS
🧱 Historic Building Loses Its Cool in EG | Link | A 130-year-old Masonic Building on Main Street in East Greenwich started shedding its brick facade Monday, prompting road closures, evacuations, and a Warwick PD drone flyover. Main Street reopened around midnight. The building is still standing. Barely.
🍖 Smokey Bones Closes in Warwick | Link | The Smokey Bones on Route 2 closed Monday, and it wasn't alone. Parent company FAT Brands shut down every single Smokey Bones location nationwide the same day, after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January. Employees found out when they showed up to work. Another one bites the dust on the Warwick restaurant strip. Word on the street is that this was a legendary after work hangout spot for all the part-time grocery clerks back in the day. RIP to a real one. Pour one out for The Bones this weekend.
🦠 Rectal Cancer on the Rise | Link | A new study finds rectal cancer deaths are rising sharply among adults in their 30s and 40s, and researchers aren't fully sure why. Diet, obesity, and gut microbiome changes are all on the suspect list. Rhode Island's screening rate for adults 45-54 sits at 78%, which sounds decent until you realize the people most at risk are often too young to qualify for a test. Don't wait for a guideline to tell you to go.
🤧 Measles: Two Cases, No Connection | Link | Rhode Island has confirmed two measles cases in 2026, and the state health department says they're unrelated. A woman in her 20s who traveled from outside the country tested positive last Friday, joining a Providence man in his 40s. Two cases, zero connection, one reminder that the MMR vaccine exists and works. Get your shots, Warwick.
EVENTS THIS WEEKEND
Friday, May 1 | 🚚 Food Truck Friday at Roger Williams Park | Link | Every Friday through September 25, Carousel Village at Roger Williams Park hosts 15+ local food trucks, live music, and cold drinks from 5 to 8:30 PM. Free to attend, just pay for what you eat. Parking is free at the Zoo lot, a short walk away. A solid way to end the week.
Saturday, May 2 | 🫁 3rd Annual Breath of Hope RI 5K | Link | Breath of Hope RI is a Warwick-rooted nonprofit funding research for Idiopathic Pulmonary Hemosiderosis, a rare and life-threatening lung disease that most people have never heard of until it hits close to home. The nonprofit was founded after a Warwick-area boy named Landon was diagnosed at just 4 years old in 2023. He's now in second grade, playing soccer, and doing well. The 5K steps off at 10:30 AM at Goddard Memorial State Park in East Greenwich. You can run it, walk it, or skip the sneakers entirely and just donate. Either way, Landon's story is worth five minutes of your time.
Saturday, May 2 | 🎶Live Music at Finn's Harborside | Link | The Berger Boys, Jimmy and Louie Berger, take the stage at Finn's Harborside from 7 to 10 PM. Who knows, maybe they’ll be offering free burgers for the biggest Berger fans…
Sunday, May 3 | 👯♀️ RI Women's Expo | Link | Over 90 local vendors, cooking demos, a fashion show, and wellness speakers at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick from 11 AM to 4 PM. Men are technically welcome too, per the website, which feels like a dare.
Sunday, May 3 | 🎵 "Homeland" Spring Concert | Link | West Bay Chorale performs a multi-generational program of American music at St. Kevin Church at 4 PM. A nice way to cap off the weekend.
RETAIL
You guessed it. She did it again.
BRAIN FOOD
🧠 Rhode Island Trivia
If you multiplied the number of Dunkin' locations in Rhode Island by the number of Dave's Marketplace locations in Rhode Island, what number do you get?
Answer below.
📖 The Warwick Word of the Day
Pugnacious (pug-NAY-shus) | adjective Eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively confrontational.
We all have that one pugnacious friend or family member. You show up just trying to complain about gas prices, and somehow 20 minutes later it's about the federal reserve, your career choices, and whether you load the dishwasher correctly. Someone's wife is giving you the silent treatment, and the dog is the only one still happy to see you. You did not come here for this. Yet here you are.
Thanks to Susan H. for submitting today’s word of the day! You can submit one yourself, here. I’ll be sure to include it in the next edition!
ONE LAST SIP
✅ Trivia Answer: 1,590 (159 Dunkin's x 10 Dave's). If you didn’t go to Dunks and Dave’s last weekend, does it even count as a weekend? Do better.
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That's it for today. Thanks for dedicating 20 minutes a week to a local stunad. Consider it a good deed. Have a great weekend. Keep smiling.
