Thanks: Arts Fest drew thousands to downtown Beverly
To the editor:
We hope your readers were among the approximately 4,500 people who came out for Arts Fest Beverly on Saturday, June 21. We had a fantastic crowd, a wonderful assortment of artwork and unique handicrafts, great family entertainment, terrific food and beautiful, sunny skies!
Arts Fest is a project of Beverly Main Streets, and it takes about 60 volunteers to bring it to life. This year we had a dedicated committee that started planning in January and came up with some terrific ideas to make this the best festival ever!
Our committee chairperson was Jennifer Pierce of J L Pierce Fine Arts and she coordinated every aspect of the event. Tireless committee members included Donna Musemeci (Beverly Main Streets), Elissa Della-Piana (Montserrat College of Art), Pat Murphy (Robert D. Murphy Associates), Leighton O'Connor (blueSWIRLS.com), Harper Della-Piana (SEAMS), Kathleen Moore (Endicott College School of Visual and Performing Arts), Bob Monahan (Beverly Cooperative Bank) and Linda Berger and Lorigan Gagliano from the YMCA. We also had three interns from Montserrat College of Art — Clovis Medeiros, Katie Weghort and Alicia Antresian — who helped design all the funky promotional materials and offered "Art on the Spot," an interactive community art project on the sidewalks.
On the day of the event, many volunteers helped with everything from putting up canopies to blowing up balloons to face-painting — Sophie Wallace, Deena White, Aisling Mullen, Al and Francine Temkin, April MacPhail, Bill Howard, Bob Murphy, Mike Wheeler, Dean Porteous, Cathy Johnson, Chris Koeplin, Janice and Don Preston, Helen and Vin LeBlanc, Irene Christ-Kirkpatrick, Mariah Christ-Kirkpatrick, Brett Kirkpatrick, Jo and Phil Broderick, Joan Adams, Kathy Auld, Kara Smith, Kate Eppers, Liz Lee, Martha Sutyak, Lexi Sutyak, Mary Divincenzo, Maureen Creegan, Megan Cafferty, Molly McDonald, Rick Fafard, Rinus Oosthoek, Jennifer Lynch, Tina Cassidy and Wes Slate.
Dunkin' Donuts of Beverly and Paul Guanci of Super Sub fed all the volunteers and John Archer lent his office space for our headquarters.
On Friday, June 20 we had a party to celebrate the artists and our sponsors and volunteers. Rich and Josie Marino offered the space at Chianti Tuscan Restaurant, and we transformed it into an eclectic art gallery for the evening. Alexander's Beer and Wine, Mercury Brewing, Edible Arrangements, Sweeney's Greenhouse, Henry's of Beverly and Carroll's Florist, also helped make the night a huge success for the overflow crowd. We featured artwork by students from Endicott College's School of Visual and Performing Arts, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly High School and local artists.
Finally, Arts Fest relies on community sponsors to fund the event. This year, our patrons were Beverly National Bank, Beverly Cooperative Bank and Windover Development. Casa de Moda, Endicott College, Glovsky & Glovsky, Colucci Norman LLP, Temkin Financial Group and an anonymous donor gave at the "supporters" level. "Friends" included Archer Insurance, Montserrat College of Art, Robert D. Murphy Associates and the Beverly Rotary Club. In-kind sponsors not already recognized were Kathy Archer, Elaine Barry, Dave Ray, the City of Beverly, Joe Shairs and the Beverly Police Department, Bruce Doig and the Recreation Department, Coca-Cola, North Shore Music Theatre, and Todd's Sporting Goods.
We are so lucky to have a community of volunteers who give their time, money, energy and ideas to help make our downtown events a success. Believe it or not, we have already started planning Beverly's New Year 2009! If you're interested in joining the committee, call us at 978-922-8558. We hope to see you downtown!
