The 5th Annual Feast of the Falls is coming up soon on Sunday June 25.
400 Upper Falls residents will sit down at one very long table in Hemlock Gorge for a spectacular catered dinner with their neighbors. Once again Better Life Food, Dunn Gaherins Pub/Restaurant, our elected officials who serve the food, a huge team of neighborhood volunteers and local businesses will come together to create something magical.
It’s not a charity fund raiser. It’s not an organization’s gala. It’s something much more special – a neighborhood celebration. The tickets are free and are handed out on a first come-first-served basis to Upper Falls residents. We just finished handing out 100’s of tickets tonight (thanks Jay) via the online distribution system at FeastOfTheFalls.org.
My favorite part of the whole thing is the folks that make sure people don’t fall between the cracks. Every year Mary Bibbo takes care of getting a slew of tickets for her elderly crew who don’t do email. The last order that came in tonight was Irene Cramer, scoring tickets for her 89 year old neighbor who doesn’t have a computer. That’s what it’s all about and why its my favorite day of the year.
Hats off to Seana Gaherin and Chris Osborn for creating one special tradition in Upper Falls, a tradition that is now loved by everyone from little kids to old folks and everybody in between.
Two weeks from tonight some magic is going to happen in Upper Falls – Here’s the story (thanks Jim Lerner) and here’s the aerial story (thanks Ed Gardner)
What a fabulous night it was. The weather was perfect, the food was delicious, and Councilor Jay Harney’s suit was an awe inspiring spectacle to behold (please send a photo if someone has one).
Thanks once again to Seana Gaherin (Dunn Gaherin’s Pub/Restaurant) and Christopher Osborn (Better Life Food) for doing the impossible. Thanks to the massive crew that pitched in with every aspect of last night’s event – the piano movers, the on-line tickets, the afternoon volunteers that built and dressed the 400 foot long table, The Dunn Gaherins and Better Life Food kitchen crew, the check-in team, the hostesses, the sound system, the food runners, the piano player, the bridge decorators, the map maker, the electrical/lighting system, the Echo Bridge Restoration folks, and on and on and on.
Big thanks to the Upper Falls CDC, all the local businesses that pitched in.
Special shut out to our new friends at Waban’s Stone L’oven Pizza. They provided the first course of the night – a fabulous selection of their flatbreads for 400 people. The guests raved about them – absolutely delicious!
Finally, thanks to our VIP Server Crew. The guests love that you all make time every year for this unique form of public service – waiting tables. Thank you Rep. Ruth Balser, mayoral candidates Ruthanne Fuller, Scott Lennon, Amy Sangiolo, Councilor Deb Crossley, candidate Andreae Downs, Newton Nomadic Theater actors Linda Goetz, Sara Morisette, Matt Winberg, local business folks – Henry & Kim (The Depot), Peter Standish (Northlands), Lynne Robbins (Lynne’s Whiterobin Vintique), Upper Falls Area Councilors Anil Adayanthaya, Marie Jackson, Jeff Ricklin, Nina Kochs …. and whoever else I’m forgetting 😉
Here’s Dapper Jay Harney’s suit
My. That. Is. Dapper.
I had been looking forward to this since last summer, but an engagement I couldn’t get out of made attending impossible. Thanks to all the great Upper Falls folks who make this fantastic event possible each June.
Thanks Jerry for hosting the opportunity to view the difference in style of the 3 mayoral contenders – all 3 are highly qualified for the executive. The composition of ‘servers & runners’ is a reflection of the quality of character of event leadership. Yes, this was an opportunity for the publik to dine with the mayor..