MIDDLEBOROUGH – Town Manager James McGrail is pleased to announce that the Town of Middleborough was awarded four Festivals & Projects grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) to support town events.
After hosting a grants workshop at the Town Hall in the fall, several local nonprofits submitted grants and were awarded funding to host first-time festivals and event series. The following events will be supported with these grants:
Chalk It Up Arts Festival
First-time MCC grantee Heart in Art is holding its first Chalk It Up Arts Festival on May 6. Heart in Art is a local nonprofit that hosts art workshops, community events and yoga classes with a special focus on disabled youth.
As part of the festival, community members will be able to buy squares of pavement to decorate the sidewalk surrounding the Town Green with chalk art and drawings for $5. Chalk will be provided. Cash prizes for the chalk art and drawings will also be offered in various categories.
The event will feature a DJ, local food and activities for children.
The Chalk It Up Festival will also feature pavement artist Alex Inacio. Inacio is a disabled artist who is a 20-year veteran in arts and design that has worked as a cartoonist and voice actor. To check out his work, click here.
All proceeds from the event will be used to support the Heart in Art’s mission and activities.
Downtown Music Series
The Bridge Church, a storefront church that is active in revitalizing Middleborough’s historic downtown, was also awarded its first $2,500 MCC grant for a downtown music series.
The church is planning outdoor summer concerts to bring the community together with several planned dates that will coincide with town events scheduled by the Middleborough Merchants and Middleborough on the Move’s First Fridays. Additional details will be shared at a later date.
Cooler Middleborough Fair
The Middleborough High School YESS Club, Sustainable Middleborough and New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance sponsored the Cooler Middleborough Fair on Saturday, April 29 at the Middleborough High School.
The fair was part of a campaign to help residents save money on heating and cooling. Local nonprofits, contractors and Middleborough Gas & Electric were on hand to answer questions about energy audits, rebates, tax credits, insulation and heat pumps.
Fun crafts and a life-size inflatable whale were available at the event for kids and families. High school students interacted with kids through games, a student energy project competition and crafts.
“It’s been a blast planning this with the students, hearing about their project ideas, and seeing their enthusiasm for their community and the environment,” said Sustainable Middleborough leader Kimberly French. “This was such a fun and informative event for the whole town.”
Local restauranteurs were also on hand for lunch and electric vehicle ambassadors showed a selection of electric cars.
Annual Herring Run Festival
In addition to these first-time awards, the MCC has also supported other local, long-time festivals in previous years, including the widely recognized Herring Run Festivals.
Recently, the Town’s Tourism Committee was awarded $2,500 for its 10th annual Herring Run Festival which was held from April 15-16. The festival celebrates the East Coast’s largest herring run through the Nemasket River. The festival hosted live music, food trucks, craft vendors and educational activities. Local nonprofits planned environmental activities to educate children about watershed management and ecology, including the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance, the Nature Conservancy, and the US Army Corps of Engineers.
The festival also honored Mashpee Wampanoag youth, who arrived by canoe to celebrate the annual return of the spawning herring. The Town is proud to host this continuing celebration, and looks forward to successful festivals for many years to come.
The Town is thrilled to have facilitated several of these grant applications and their subsequent awards as the end result is more events that will bring more people and economic opportunity to Middleborough.
Community members are encouraged to learn more about these events that celebrate Middleborough’s unique downtown by visiting DiscoverMiddleborough.com.
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