Congratulations to Jerry Reilly, Seana Gaherin and everyone else else who organized today’s incredibly fun parade celebrating the reopening on the Elliot Street/Central Ave. bridge. We had puppets, an antique fire engine, a high school rock band float, two mayoral candidates, Newton Police Chief David MacDonald. Santa and a remarkably boisterous, kazoo playing crowd.
and a few more pix here on the Newton Patch
This is amazing. What great memories must have been created.
Who knew that a bit of civil engineering could inspire such wacky fun. I look forward to the Chestnut St Repaving Ball and the Upper Falls Sewer Line Replacement Regatta.
Once again Seana Gaherin unleashed one of her totally wonderful and ridiculous brainstorms on the neighborhood and once again I loved being caught up in the whirlwind.
Special shout outs to those participants who missed the parade due to travel conditions but entertained us,all afterwards – the fabulous Newtones from Newton South and of course Pumpkin the miniature horse.
… and let us not forget V14’s own Greg Reibman. Greg and the Chamber of Commerce were the behind-the-scenes organizers. They pulled in people from both sides of the mighty Charles to make it all happen.
Thanks for the pics. It looks like great fun on a snowy day. Looks like the snow only added to the merriment. I only wish I lived within walking distance so could have taken part in the fun.
… and a shout out to Evan Westrate, a man of many talents. Evan is known around these parts as the man who engineered a swarm of wirelessly controlled simulated fireflies for the Feast of The Falls a few years ago. He and his wife Patrice get involved in one way or another in nearly every event in Upper Falls. For yesterday’s parade, Evan unveiled another of his many talents. He juggled for the entire route of the parade without dropping a single ball.
For our next Upper Falls event we’ll see if he knows how to swallow fire or maybe ride a unicycle.
I wish i could have made it, but I had another commitment I couldn’t break. I have an idea for what hopefully will be an upcoming event that I hope to draw Jerry and his crew into.
My first winter parade! It was a blast!
A very special shutout to the Puppet Free Library – a most amazing institution. Jim Lerner, one of my regular co-conspirators, called me about nine months ago and said “you definitely need to know about this”.
The Puppet Free Library has a collection of 100’s of hand made giant puppets and masks. Anyone can check out as many puppets as they want for an event FOR FREE. The selection is breathtaking. They’re located in the basement of a church in the Back Bay.
Best detail: to get there you go down the very narrow Public Alley Way 437 parallel to Newbury St until you find what the Boston Globe called their “hobbit size door”. The one wrinkle, they’re only open on Tuesday afternoon so you need to arrange puppet transportation fro one Tuesday and then bring them back the following Tuesday.
As soon as I heard about this I knew that giant puppets were in my future and Seana Gaherin conveniently gave me just the excuse I needed. I think we’ll be seeing more giant puppets in Newton’s future. In the meantime, their puppets are always a highlight of Boston’s annual First Night. If you want to immerse yourself into this weird and wonderful world, they are always looking for as many volunteers as they can find to be puppeteers on the streets of Boston for First Night.
Go Seana Gaherin!!!