Community Events

Framingham Downtown Renaissance is dedicated to guiding Downtown Framingham to its most vibrant future. Our mission is to promote, drive, and implement the revitalization of Downtown Framingham by collaborating with residents, Town of Framingham officials, and private stakeholders supporting a shared vision. We are committed to making Downtown Framingham a great place to live, work and visit.

FDR festivals and events are designed to attract residents and visitors from outside Downtown Framingham – inviting people to explore the historic commercial district and participate in its revitalization first hand.

events

Comm unity

2

Marathon Fest was initiated in April 2013. The 5-hour festival featured entertainment, food, raffles, sign-making and kids’ activities – all to support the 117th running of the Boston Marathon through the center of Downtown Framingham along Waverly Street / Route 135.

Boston Marathon Fact Founded in 1897, more than 27,000 runners representing the US and almost 100 countries run the 26.2 miles on Patriots’ Day.

Significance For years, people have flocked to Downtown Framingham to celebrate the Boston Marathon. FDR recognized this occasion as an opportunity to create an economic engine that would support the local businesses. The event created incentives for the visiting spectators to shop, eat and experience the downtown commercial district that spreads outward from the mara-thon route, at the crossroads of 126 and 135.

Marathon Fest

First held in May 2013, the Series opened with a weekend-long pop-up gallery called ArtPOP::transit. The art show commenced with a Friday night reception, and featured an opportunity to view a variety of mixed media, meet the artists, and learn about Downtown Framingham’s arts community. Attendees listened and danced to house music, and discussed the future of Downtown Framingham as a growing hub for the many fragmented yet robust artist scenes in and around MetroWest.

SignificanceThe Series created a new art happening in Downtown Framingham to highlight the existence of a budding creative economy for the Town. People purchased original artwork while learning about the communities of creatives and their prolific studios housed in locations at the Bancroft Building on Fountain Street, studios at Tripp Street, and in the mill buildings of Saxonville. The Series marked the initiation of FDR’s strategy to develop a downtown arts district that will provide a central place to promote and organize Framingham artists and art entrepreneurs.

framingham downtown renaissance | Community Events

3

ArtPOP Series

artwork: nella lush

artwork: stephen maka

artwork: sorin bica

The weekly market was established in June 2013, and was open for business on Tuesdays through September 24th in the historic Down-town Common. Hansons Farm from the rural countryside of North Framingham headlined the market,along with vendors that offered locally grown and produced goods. Hansons’ fifth generation farmers brought fresh produce picked within hours before opening each week. Neighboring breakfast and lunch eatery, Frescafe created a menu with specials made from market vegetables, including their “Farmers Market Eggplant Sandwich.” People came from as far away as Holliston to shop and take part in festivities. Local acts like Jenny the Juggler and Joe the Storyteller were

on hand weekly to entertain children and families. Market organizers supported a broad income-based range of customers and visitors to the downtown by accepting WIC coupons and EBT cards.

Significance The Farmers Market provided a new destination for people to come to Downtown Framingham, which increased foot traffic and business for the local restaurants and retail. The Town of Framingham scheduled weekly maintenance and landscaping to prepare for market, and on-site activities made the Common a natural platform for community policing and social service outreach. Myths about parking and crime were widely dispelled by people who regularly attended market and found the conditions of the Downtown Common to be attractive and an asset to the town.

4

Downtown Farmer’s Market

Farm Pond Fall Festival was first held in October 2012. The outdoor fiesta along the banks of Farm Pond featured live music, historic storytelling, capoeira and Brazilian percussion, theatre, nature activities, games, and American and ethnic food.

History about the ParkFarm Pond was at one time connected to Downtown Framingham, until the railroad industry built a freight yard and tracks deemed unsafe to cross. Farm Pond’s Harmony Grove was a historic site where founders of the Abolitionist Movement initiated the agitation that eventually led to the end of slavery in America. From 1854 to 1865, members of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society gathered here each year on July 4th to hold rallies and dedicate themselves to this vital crusade.

SignificanceThe inaugural Fall Festival was Framingham Downtown Renaissance’s “coming out party” as a Main Streets® model program. The event provided a setting to rediscover the hidden history behind this outdoor gem, while encouraging people to begin thinking about what might draw them to Downtown Framingham – focusing on what’s there, what’s working and what could be.

framingham downtown renaissance | Community Events

5

Farm Pond Fall Festival

Winter Wonderland was established in December 2011. FDR created the holiday event to encourage folks in and around Framingham to shop locally by creating activities and attractions throughout the Downtown. Volunteers, artists, community organizations and families in the past were invited to paint windows with a winter holiday theme. In 2013, Winter Wonderland will grow this event to include a window decorating contest, specials and deals in retail businesses and restaurants, and a Wonderland Holiday Bazaar that will run from December 14th through the 24th.

6

Winter Wonderland

The Second Annual Winter Wonderland was held in 2012. The event dedicated 58 volunteers and featured performances by the Framingham Community Theatre Singers, First Parish in Framingham’s Handbell Choir and Framingham High School Boys A Cappella. Shoppers and volunteers were welcomed to warm up in the Arcade, where they drank hot cocoa and listened to live acoustic music. Senator Elizabeth Warren attended and held a rally during the event at the Memorial Building.

Significance The event made Downtown Framingham a destination to visit, shop and celebrate the holidays. It increased foot traffic and provided a festive nexus for the many frag-mented, diverse communities that make up Greater Framingham.

“ FDR's Winter Wonderland Festival (in December 2012) transformed downtown, with dozens of storefront windows painted with holiday scenes, and strolling groups of carolers to entertain shoppers. And that was just on the heels of another successful downtown event, the Farm Pond Fall Festival. Naysayers who mutter that downtown will never be improved may scoff at the idea of these events. But the enthusiasm for, and the attendance and participation in them points toward a desire in the town for just these types of community gatherings.”

brett peruzzi, blogger and community activist

8

Framingham Downtown Renaissance, Inc.129 Concord Street, Suite 25 Framingham, MA 01702

Holli Andrews, Executive Director holli@fdrms.org 508.861.3289

www.fdrms.org facebook.com/DowntownFramingham @FDR_MainSt

Framingham Downtown Renaissance, Inc. is a 501c3 nonprofit. All contributions are tax deductible.

special thanks to following contributors

design : : Framingham State University, Art + Music Department, Assistant Professor Stephanie Grey, Advanced Graphic Design Class, Fall 2013

photography : : Dan Schullman, Elsa Hornfischer, Naomi Zahler, Holli Andrews, Gateway Media, Sarah Roberge, Shanay Walker, Jaclen Lapham, Amy Castellano, Ashley Ferris, Olivia Reardon

downtown overview contributor : : Susan Petroni

printing : : Wing Press