3rd Annual 'Take Me to the River' Free Festival Announced on the Waterfront
Waterfront Festival Boosts Local Business and Draws Regional Tourism
Mayor Coogan Encourages Residents to Enjoy Free Waterfront Event
Patrick Norton, Executive Director of the Narrows Center for the Arts, hosted a press conference to announce the 3rd annual "Take Me to the River" event, a free festival on the Tom Norton Pier. Norton emphasized the event's dual purpose of providing a high-quality cultural experience for all community members regardless of socioeconomic status and boosting the local economy by attracting visitors. He noted that the previous year's event drew 2,000 attendees, with 35% traveling from over 35 miles away. Norton also highlighted the positive impact of the recently completed Route 79 project and the availability of multimodal transportation options, including boats, the MBTA train, and the Fore River Trolley, which enhance access to the venue. Mayor Paul E. Coogan spoke in support of the event, thanking the Narrows Center and the presenting sponsor, Mechanics Bank. He encouraged residents to attend the free day of food, music, and fun, and credited former Senator Tom Norton for his vision in establishing the pier. A representative from Mechanics Bank, identified as Josh, reiterated the bank's pride in sponsoring the event for the third consecutive year. He formally invited the public to attend on Saturday, August 22nd, at the Tom Norton Pier.
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Happy Thursday, everybody.
0:01How we doing?
0:02All right?
0:03Thanks for coming out.
0:04We certainly appreciate it.
0:05My name is Patrick Norton.
0:06I'm the Executive Director of the Narrows Center for the Arts.
0:09We're very happy here today to announce our 3rd annual Take Me to the River event.
0:13And as I look out on this Route 79 project, I remember when we started this thing 2 years ago, the road was an absolute disaster.
0:21You couldn't get through.
0:22We had all kinds of problems.
0:23Last year, we had the beginnings of how this was going to look.
0:27And now this year, in year 3, the Route 79 project is at least complete from a roadway perspective, and it really makes this destination one of the premier places in Fall River to hang out and see a show.
0:39So let me tell you a little about Take Me to the River.
0:42The event serves 2 distinct purposes, I like to think.
0:45It's a free event, and it's a free event because of our good sponsors, Mechanics Bank, and our other lovely sponsors.
0:52We couldn't do this.
0:53But a free event like this allows everyone in our community, regardless of their socioeconomic status, to experience a real high-quality event that I think many might not be able to do so.
1:03And that kind of ability to bring people together of all different socioeconomic backgrounds to get together helps build community and gives everyone a chance to enjoy a high-quality cultural experience.
1:14The other thing that this event does, and through our survey that we did last year— last year we had about 2,000 people— 35% of those people came from outside a 35-mile radius of the city of Fall River.
1:26So what that does is all these people who come into Fall River spend money in the Fall River.
1:31So that's new economic dollars that are infused into the city of Fall River.
1:35I can tell you the Fairfield Inn in Somerset was sold out last year.
1:38It wasn't strictly because of us, but we certainly helped.
1:41And many of the restaurants and other service-related industries saw a serious economic bump from the people who come to our events.
1:48So that's really important to what the Narrows does.
1:50We've been doing that for the last 25 years, bringing people from outside of Fall River into Fall River to spend money and And really also, it helps Fall River spread the good word that we're a great place to come, great place to visit, and I'll leave it at that.
2:08Just my last thing is, the nice thing about this event too, with the roadway all fixed, it's that it's a multimodal transportation event.
2:14What I mean by that is last Saturday we had a smaller show here on the pier, and we had over 20 boats in the harbor.
2:22A small version of the Newport Folk Festival, I must say, but it's gotta start somewhere.
2:27You're not going to start with 20,000 boats.
2:28It starts with 12, you get 24, 48, blah blah blah.
2:32We also have the train station right across the street, and as time goes on, more and more people will take the train to this event and come over and walk to it.
2:41And then we also have the Fore River Trolley, which is going to be stopping at the Narrow Center, stopping at the MBTA station, and bringing people in.
2:48So I think it's a real great event, easy to get to, free.
2:52High quality, and I want to introduce the mayor of Fall River, Paul Coogan.
2:58Well, thank you, Pat, and thank the Narrows and Mechanics Bank for putting on this tremendous show.
3:02As Patrick said, as activity increases on this pier through time, we're finishing up the walkway across from the street.
3:10I was down here for the concert.
3:11There was a great, great crowd of people.
3:13Come on down for a free day of food, fun, and music.
3:17This is a very, very special event for the city.
3:19We're using the pier more and more, and I want to thank Senator Tom Norton, Patrick Patrick's father, who was one of the initial ideas behind this, was making this into a pier, and it's truly a great spot.
3:32But you can't do it without sponsors like Mechanics Bank pitching in to make sure we cover everything, and the citizens of Fall River.
3:38We encourage them to come down for this very, very special festival.
3:42We'd like to see both fingers of the pier full and people on the water and people getting a bite to eat, having something to drink, and enjoying a free night of fun and music.
3:51Let's all pray for great weather, and going forward, I commend the Narrows in their efforts to do all they can to help promote the waterfront in the City of Fall River.
3:59At this time, I'd like to turn it over to, uh, Josh from Mechanic Bank to say a few words.
4:04Without them, this wouldn't even be going on.
4:10Thank you both, Patrick, Mayor Phucan as well.
4:15Uh, Bank is once again proud to serve as the presenting sponsor here alongside Narrows at the beautiful Tom Norton Pier.
4:22This is our 3rd year doing it.
4:23We're very excited about the event.
4:26You know, things like this open up the town to everybody, this free event open, you know, so we hope to see you here next Saturday, Saturday, August 22nd, here at the Tom Norton Pier.
4:37Grab a lawn chair, come on down, enjoy great food, great friends, music, and we hope to see you here.
4:44So thank you.
4:46Thank you.
4:51Thanks for coming out.