5 Things You Need To Know Today: Oct. 6

Our daily column, 5 Things You Need to Know Today, will help you to get your day started and offer you some fodder for water cooler conversation.

1. Barnes and Noble Bookseller in Shoppers World is celebrating Star Wars Reads Day with an event at 11 a.m. featuring games, trivia, giveaways, and a chance to win great Star Wars prizes.

2. The Framingham Library Foundation is hosting an event featuring famed author Dennis Lehane, as its first major fundraiser, tonight. The event is sold out! Framingham Patch will have coverage of the event. Lehane is the author of Mystic River, Gone, Baby, Gone, Moonlight Mile and Shutter Island.

3. The Center for the Arts iIn Natick (TCAN) is celebrating its 15th anniversary with a benefit concert tonight at the Walnut Hill School featuring stars of the original Broadway musical RENT.  Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, the iconic stars of the Tony Award-winning musical Rent headline the show. Pascal, currently starring in Broadway's Memphis, and Rapp, star of his autobiographical solo off-Broadway hit Without You, join forces with a full band for an evening of solo songs and duets, including hits from RENT. Tickets $150; there are a limit amount still available.

4.  The 2nd Annual New England Food Truck Festival returns to Framingham today. The festival will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Shoppers World. For more details click here.

5. One of the trucks at the Food Truck Festival in Framingham today will be  Lobsta Love, who is expected to offer lobster mac n' cheese. Gov. Deval Patrick proclaimed today, Oct. 6 as Massachusetts Lobster Day and the Department of Fish and Gameand its Division of Marine Fisheries is encouraging residents to observe it by enjoying local lobsters from their favorite fish markets and restaurants. 

“The lobster fishery has provided a source of food, jobs and a way of life that dates back to the Native Americans and the first European settlers," said Fish and Game Commissioner Mary Griffin in a press release. “Many people think of purchasing lobster in the summer, but October is also a fantastic time of year to get an excellent quality lobster at a good price." 

American lobster is low in fat, calories, and cholesterol and high in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, and Vitamins B12, B6, B3 (niacin), B2 (riboflavin), and A.

Massachusetts' lobster fishery generates about $250 million for the Commonwealth's economy. The commercial lobster fishery is the second most valuable fishery in Massachusetts, after the sea scallop fishery. Massachusetts has the second most valuable American lobster fishery in the nation.