Waltham Event Discovery App

A web application that discovers and displays fun events happening in Waltham, MA.

Features

• Scrapes publicly available event listings from 7 local sources
• Stores events in SQLite database with 6-month lookout
• Provides web interface to browse and filter events
• Daily automatic updates via scheduled scraping (6 AM & 6 PM)
• Event categorization and filtering
• Mobile-responsive design

Event Sources

1. City of Waltham Official Website - City council meetings, community events, municipal announcements
2. Waltham Public Library - Educational programs, book clubs, workshops, family activities
3. Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation - Historical tours, repair cafes, educational workshops, fundraising events
4. Brandeis University - Public lectures, art exhibitions, concerts, academic events open to community
5. Waltham Recreation Department - Sports leagues, fitness classes, family activities, outdoor programs
6. Waltham Common - Farmers market, summer concerts, outdoor fitness, community celebrations
7. Eventbrite - Local community events, business workshops, cultural activities
8. Meetup - Social groups, hiking clubs, professional networking, hobby groups

Setup Instructions

1. Clone/download this repository
2. Navigate to the project directory
3. Create a virtual environment: python3 -m venv .venv
4. Activate virtual environment: source .venv/bin/activate
5. Install dependencies: pip install -r requirements.txt
6. Initialize database: python database.py
7. Run initial scraping: python scraper.py
8. Start the web app: python app.py
9. Open browser to http://localhost:5000

File Structure

• app.py - Flask web application
• scraper.py - Event scraping logic
• database.py - Database setup and operations
• models.py - Data models
• templates/ - HTML templates
• static/ - CSS/JS files
• requirements.txt - Python dependencies

Usage

The web interface allows you to:

• Browse all upcoming events
• Filter by date range
• Filter by category (family, music, outdoors, etc.)
• View event details and source links

Updating Events

Events are automatically updated twice daily (6 AM and 6 PM) when the scheduler is running.

Manual Updates:

python scraper.py

Start Automatic Scheduling:

python scheduler.py

Production Deployment:

See DEPLOYMENT.md for systemd service setup and other production options.