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By Amelia Tarallo
Hometown Weekly Staff
With the sun up in an unwavering blue sky, members of the Needham and Natick communities came to Needham town common on Saturday, June 2, to enjoy the Needham Street Fair. Hosted by the Newton-Needham Regional Chamber, the Street Fair shined a bright light on local businesses, transforming the common into a place of fantastic fun for families from both towns.
Featuring myriad booths set up around the park, the fair was a hit - especially for the younger kids - and was filled with food and a plethora of activities for townspeople to enjoy.
The Needham Farmer’s Market, for example, hosted a planting booth, where kids and adults stopped by to plant marigolds, leeks, peppers, and tomatoes - all in compostable pots that can be dropped straight into the ground when the plants is big enough. “I’m going to put this in the front yard!” exclaimed one child as he held his plant carefully.
Other children enjoyed decorating plastic kites to fly upon their return home.
A blow-up photo booth that resembled a marshmallow attracted many kids to take pictures with the provided props, many caught in uncontrollable fits of giggling.
Others enjoyed the balloon animal artist, leaving the booth with tri-colored balloon swords, and pink and purple poodles.
Photo by Georgio Elian.
With the smell of buttered popcorn and pizza wafting through the air, many people took a seat at picnic tables or had a picnic lunch on the green grass while watching dance performances. Winston, age 4, and Teddy, age 6, enjoyed their time enjoying ice cream with their mom. “I liked the ice cream,” said Winston, when asked for his favorite part of the day.
Tessa, age 7, came with her mother, Jackie. She loved the ice cream just as much as Winston did, but was also tantalized by the Street Fair’s other offerings. “I liked that I got to take a picture with a suffragette!” she exclaimed. Children in attendance had the opportunity to meet a suffragette at the Needham League of Women Voters booth. They even got to don sashes reminiscent of the ones the suffragettes wore during their fight to gain the vote.
Many of the younger children enjoyed their time exploring different vehicles brought to the fair. The most popular, by far, was the fire truck, with kids and parents forming a long line to see the inside and be guided by firefighters in full-uniform. At one point, an attending firemen raised the ladder so that everyone at the fair could see it; the kids watched in awe as it stretched further and further into the sky. Other vehicles included a street cleaner, a dump truck, and even a small bulldozer, in which children enjoyed pressing buttons to set off lights.
For some, like Ellen Barnes, the excitement of the day was in the socializing. “I like the fact that you see a lot of native people who you get to meet again. And there’s a lot of people from out of town,” she said. “The sense of community - it’s a good feeling.”
At the Street Fair, kids and parents alike both found ways to enjoy themselves, whether it was by making something, watching a performance, or socializing amongst their fellow townfolk.
For attendees of all ages, it was a perfect reminder of Needham’s vibrancy.
