The meeting on June 12, 2024, was a press event announcing the fourth annual "Summer Evenings in the Park" series in Fall River, Massachusetts. This free, eight-week event series will take place in July and August across eight different parks, aiming to bring art, entertainment, and community engagement directly to the city's neighborhoods. The initiative, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic, is a collaborative effort involving the Narrows Center for the Arts, Frack, Viva of Fall River, Serid, and is significantly supported by Bristol County Savings Bank, the Great A for F Food Pantry, and the Citizens for Citizens food pantry. Attendees can expect live music (jazz or blues), free food including hot dogs, hamburgers, and ice cream, and art activities such as spray paint art led by Kevin Lamb. Each family will also receive a bag of groceries. Mayor Paul Cougan, Jeff Puka (Senior Vice President at Bristol County Savings Bank), and Ashley from Frack spoke about the event's success, its role in fostering neighborhood connections, and its accessibility, drawing approximately 300 people per event. A new public art map, developed by Viva of Fall River, Serid, and the City of Fall River, will also be distributed at the parks.
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Council
Public / Other
thanks everybody for coming out today we're very happy to announce our fourth annual summer evenings in the Park series there'll be eight different uh parks that we'll visit over eight weeks from July and August and I want to say that we started this event um four three four years ago right during Co I met Mr cougan at Barcelo Bakery on a Sunday morning it was a very happen stance kind
0:22of thing and I said Paul we need to figure out something for the neighborhoods he goes I was thinking the same thing we put our heads together we got V Fall River involved and Frack involved and Bristol County Savings Bank came to the table and really supported this event this is a free event it's a very holistic event it really brings what the narrow Center for the Arts does on a daily basis right into the
0:44neighborhoods of Fall River there's free food there's art um and and the other thing I want to said every family goes home with a bag of groceries which is compliment of the great a for of food pantry and the citizens for Citizens food pantry and we really think that kind of ties the event together everybody gets to come in have a good time go home with something nice and it's really uh a United Nations kind of
1:06event where we get people from all different walks of life come together and I think it's important because people in the neighborhood get to meet their neighbors and that's not something that everybody gets to do on a daily basis we couldn't do it uh certainly without a lot of Partners and our partner for the last four years has been Mr cougan Paul kougan the mayor of fora Paul want to say something thank you
1:27sure uh um but again I I know that the real partner besides myself and Patrick that kind of helped coordinate that it's Bristol County Savings uh they've stepped up and helped us with a number of events in the city every year whether it's the Christmas concert summer evenings in the park and these events are really electric as Patrick said everybody leaves with something the kids leave with their spray paint artwork
1:50everybody leaves with a hamburger and a hot dog or ice cream and it's a real electric event where everybody seems to have fun and they keep growing which is what we're looking for every year it seems like there a few more people a few more people listening to the band so it's something we work hard to coordinate both with Bristol County and the narrow who is obviously the experts at this but it's a great event across
2:11the city if you look at the list of parks we definitely try to geographically spread them out so um we hope everybody gets an opportunity to come down and join us and I'm with Patrick as long as the weather's like this I know we'll be successful um and I'd like to let our partners from Bristol County Savings though I don't know who's going to speak come up and say a few
2:31words good afternoon hi I'm Jeff puka senior vice president at bristell County Savings Bank um thank you mayor and um you know Ashley and uh Patrick um on behalf of everyone at the bank I just like to say how proud We Are to support this initiative with the Narrows the city um there's nothing better than bringing free quality um you know entertainment into the cities of Fall River uh we have a local Bank downtown
2:55we've got a great local team here that supports the community and uh you know Bristol County Savings Bank is just a a local bank that likes to give back to the communities that we live and work and this just one of our many initiatives that we do in the city of Fall River so we're glad to be a part of it looking forward to again some nice weather in the summer and uh you know
3:11the most important thing is uh giving over the check and the money to help offset some of the cost so to give that to you and um you know obviously looking forward to a great uh event this summer thank you excellent asy from Frack you want to say something sure I would love to so Frack has been a part of this uh wonderful event since the beginning and I am thrilled that we're a part of it
3:32again this summer uh like Patrick said this event helps bring the Narrows Mission out into the communities and the same thing for Frack uh we really look to connect with uh our neighbors here across the city and this is always my favorite event because I get to meet all of you face to face and I get to share art with you in the process and so I look forward to bringing our letter
3:52boxing activity uh to the eight different Parks this summer and we'll actually be utilizing a map that uh Viva of Fall River worked with uh serid and the City of Fall River to put together a brand new public art map uh that we'll be handing out at the eight different Parks but you can also find a large version of it uh inside Government Center uh so we're looking to not only
4:14connect at the eight Parks but also get people out exploring the city as well and so thank you so much mayor Coogan and uh Patrick and Bristol County Savings Bank for being so supportive of the creative arts in Fall River that's it that's just an announcement guys thank you thank you questions um Patrick tell me about the past few years paint a picture for us they've been well attended have felt
4:41safe yeah I think You' had cooperation from police we we've had cooperation from everyone in the neighbor and I think like Paul says we probably get 300 people at each of these events which is a lot for these neighborhoods most people can walk no one has to drive their car and I think that's the convenience of it because we've done similar free events on the waterfront of the Narrows we won't get the kind of
5:01attendance that we get when we go to people's neighborhoods that's what we really found out about when we started doing the Summers evenings in the Park after many years of thinking we're experts on the waterfront we realize that if you want to make an impact on people you go right to their neighborhoods you bring it right to their front door and it kind of breaks the barrier I think there's this
5:18sometimes this e socioeconomic barrier between art and what people accept and what they think they're worthy for and all that this breaks down all that and the parents again the parents get to work with the kids on our projects so it's it's it's nice volunteerism is important yeah to mean it's also it's almost all volunteers at at at this event pretty much except for us and this guy I guess but you know we have our
5:42volunteers and cidd wck who's not here they have a whole gang of volunteers so you know it takes a village to kind of make this thing work what are some of the events that you're going to be presenting this summer specifically well we got these these eight events so at each event there'll be uh some kind of music it's either jazz or Blues and then we have cdre provides hot dogs and
6:02hamburgers and the ice cream truck comes so everyone gets a free ice cream and then our boy Kevin Uh Kevin lamb he is the spray paint art Guru every kid goes home with a 5 by seven spray paint art and every everyone looks great somehow Kevin makes everyone's spray painting artwork look great so I think there's a sense of Pride because these kids Come Away with like actually you know putting
6:25together a really nice quality piece of art they can take home put it on the wall when they go home and said I did so I think there's some kind of empowerment with with kids and families to see that they can do that a little bit of everything yeah I don't want to put a damper but what are the rain contingency plans we don't have any put a damper yeah I you know I'm G
6:46to go I'm gonna I'm not even going to go there we've been very lucky with the weather so far we'll just leave it at that I don't want to break the numbers down but they've been in our favor we're going to hopefully make that happens so else thank you everybody thank you