My wife came home yesterday and asked me “What’s the Fig Newton Festival?” She had just seen a big sign for it. I had no idea. She did a quick Google search and came up empty handed
This afternoon she dug back into it. She had seen the sign while driving by the Upper Falls Greenway on Chestnut St. She headed back down there and got to the bottom of the mystery.
It’s the brand new installation of some public art called Newton Out Doors organized by Newton Community Pride. They recycled 25 freestanding doors and put out an open call for artists. They whittled down 65 submissions to the final 25. The doors have all been completed and they’ve been installed across the city this week.
We’re lucky to have four of them on the Upper Falls Greenway but there are other locations all around the city. Here’s a map of the locations.
I particularly loved being scammed by the Fig Newton Festival door. I’m awfully fond of art that messes with people a bit so I got a kick out of being a mess’ee this time rather than a mess’er, That said I am a bit disappointed that V14’s Fignewtonville isn’t getting a festival 😉
Big thanks to Newton Community Pride and to the artists for bringing a few sparks and fun and finding ways to get us all to poke our heads outside now that the warm weather has returned.
Proud spouse moment: That bottom one with the carve-outs was created by my wife, Farzana Mohamed. Here’s her statement about the piece: https://www.newtonoutdoors.org/farzana-mohamed Excerpt:
“The thing I remember most vividly about my grandfather’s house in Zanzibar’s old Stone Town is its door. Richly carved and burnished by decades of exposure to the elements and exploring hands, it spoke the mysteries of many comings and goings. I never knew my grandfather, and I’ve never been inside his old house. Was it his first home on the island? Did it remind him of the doors he left behind when he boarded a small sailing dhow for shores unknown?
“I’ve been entranced by the mesmerizing interplay of light and shadow through latticed screen doors in the Indo-Islamic world. The doors invite you to peek inside, even before you cross the threshold. They suffuse the interior with an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of light and shadow, bringing the outside in.
“The panels [in this piece are] exposed on both sides, inviting people to look at, through, and around the door at the patterns it casts nearby. I hope children will enjoy peering through them, and watching the shapes created by light on arms and bicycles!”
We really enjoyed seeing all of the doors and meeting some of the other artists when we delivered Farzana’s door. There’s some terrific talent in the city, and Newton Community Pride has done a lovely job in bringing a range of artistic presentation to all of the villages.
Can’t wait to explore all these doors! I now have a new destination for my bike rides around the city.
Almost in my backyard. I’ll be cruising by later today
Hi All, and thank you Jerry for posting! On behalf of Newton Community Pride (NCP) we could not be more proud of our first city wide public art initiative. To learn more about all the artists, their inspiration and locations throughout our village centers click here https://www.newtonoutdoors.org/art-and-artists
Thank you to NCP board member Meryl Kessler for bringing this fantastic project to our attention this past winter and has led it to its fruition and to the DPW crews for help this week.
In addition to sponsoring artists with painted jersey barriers and bistro tables for the Dining Al Fresco program around town, we hope this ambitious public art project will bring more color creativity and pedestrian traffic to our village centers. Stay tuned for more and I love the idea of a Fig Newton Festival in the spring of 2022! I’m going to reach out to Nabisco and see if NCP can pull that together!
To learn more about how Newton Community Pride impacts and supports the City of Newton and how you can support our programs (insert shameless plug for a donation) please click here https://newtoncommunitypride.org/
Thank you and let’s continue to #CreateNewton together,
Gloria Gavris
Board Chair,
Newton Community Pride
These are great. I love public art. I have only seen a few of them – on the north side. I’m going to venture out to the more southern areas just to see the doors.
Great job by Newton Community Pride.
@Gloria Gavris – Count me in for a Fig Newton festival. What’s the point of being named after a cookie if we we don’t get a party out of it 😉
I’m pretty sure that in the late 80s early 90s there was indeed a Fig Newton Festival at the library, possibly as part of its opening or a groundbreaking. I have distinct memory of attending it even though I lived in Canton at the time, because as a +/- 19 year old, why would I NOT have been there!!
I didn’t live in the area at the time but I swear that a few years ago I read that Newton once had a Fig Newton Festival and Juice Newton performed. Kind of a cute idea, they should do it again.
Right you are Scott and Mary Mary – It was the Fig Newton centennial celebration in 1991. (The Internet is a wonderful thing).
Also I feel we as a city have been a bit remiss in our cookie celebration duties. We’ve been letting National Fig Newton Day (Jan 16) slip by un-celebrated year after year.
Thanks for getting the ball rolling Gloria. I think its way past time to up our cookie celebration game. I’m sure Nilla Wafer, Missouri and Chips Ahoy, South Dakota haven’t been resting on their laurels. If we’re going to be a world class cookie town I think we need to stoke this up, and maybe reach out to other cookie towns – you know, share best Cookie Town practices, maybe form the US Federation of Cookie Towns.
Lets make 2021 be remenbered as the year we put the Fig back in Newton – no time to waste.
@Paul Levy – I just saw the doors myself this morning and loved them – especially Farzana’s. It was that much more poignant after reading the background you posted about it above. Thanks.
Thanks, Jerry. Each one has a meaningful personal story. Check out this one, for example, from Shihui Angela Zou, a student at NNHS: https://www.newtonoutdoors.org/shihui-angela-zou
Meryl and Gloria have struck gold with this concept. Looking forward to what comes next!
Thanks, Jerry, for the post. And, thanks, Gloria, for the shout out.
I’m proud to have led this initiative for Newton Community Pride, and I’m delighted to see the joy that it’s bringing folks around the City. We just installed the last three doors this morning in Coletti-Magni Park in Nonantum (thanks, DPW!). Please try to check them out!
Adding a few more details about the project…
1. The doors are in 8 village centers: Auburndale, Newton Centre, Newton Highlands, Newton Upper Falls, Newtonville, Nonantum, West Newton, and Waban. When we first conceived of this project, the idea was to promote the enjoyment of art in a safe, socially distanced manner AND to encourage the walkability of our unique village centers. As you’re walking (or biking) around and looking at the doors, please try to patronize our local merchants. They need our support!
2. Thank you, Paul, for sharing Farzana’s lovely, evocative artists’ statement. The other artists’ statements are on the website here: https://www.newtonoutdoors.org/art-and-artists Also, each door is labeled with a QR code that you can use to access the website from your phone.
3. The fantastic Fig Newton Festival door was created by Newton artist Harun Zankel (who also painted the jersey barriers in the Newton Centre lot). You can see more of his work here: http://ha-za.com/
4. Finally, thank you to the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Newton Cultural Council, and Village Bank (our presenting sponsor) for their support. Many thanks also to a number of City departments–DPW; Parks, Recreation, and Culture; and Planning–for helping to bring this project to fruition.
This just in via email from Lissa Laurence …
Not only do I remember the Fig Newton Festival, I still have some of the swag! There was also a seemingly endless supply of Fig Newtons. Those however, did not survive the passage of time.
Shirt pictured front and back. This blue thing zipped open to hold a house key. Velcro it around your ankle while jogging!
…. and this report from the AP – 8000 people, Juice Newton, a 100 inch inch Fig Newton, students created 15 murals parodying famous paintings, each with a figgy twist, Fig Newton memorabilia.
Shout out to the Newton Cultural Alliance, which donated the doors that came from the Nathaniel Topliff Allen Homestead.
Let me guess, they won’t be able to entice Olivia Newton-John, so we’ll have to once again settle for juice Newton
Fig Newton Door – it could be yours to keep! Newton Community Pride is running an online auction https://www.32auctions.com/NOD which ends Friday at 7:00 PM. It’s lots of fun and bidding has become competitive on some of the doors! Come by and view all the doors at an Exhibit and Reception on Thursday October 30th at 4:00 – 6:00 PM at 1294 Centre Street (parking and entrance behind Learning Express). Doors can be easily installed in your yard or used inside your home as an interior door, table top, desk or headboard. So fun!