By Amelia Tarallo
Hometown Weekly Staff
How long has it been since we've seen a real, live, good old-fashioned sing-along - the kind where kids and parents both feel a bit lighter when they leave?
On Wednesday, May 19, parents and kids got exactly that as the Walpole Public Library hosted an outdoor Stacey Peasley concert, the first in over a year.
Peasley, a children’s entertainer and songwriter, is well-known to patrons of the Walpole Public Library, a fact that was obvious based on the crowd that showed up to the event. The audience gathered around the baseball diamond on Stone Field, armed with picnic blankets, snacks, water, and the knowledge that they were about to experience a great concert.
Peasley began the concert with a classic “If Your Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands,” which got parents and kids standing up and moving. Following that first song, parents had trouble keeping their kids at their assigned blankets. Many dashed off to run around in some of the empty space on the diamond, meeting other kids and making friends while dancing along to the singer’s catchy tunes.
As Peasley sang song after song, the excitement only grew. By the time Peasley sang a song centered around trains, kids had formed their own train around the field on their own, gradually gathering additional kids along the way. One child, asked about where his train would go, cheerily announced that his train would be going to Hawaii - a feat only possible in a child’s imagination. The same child asked Peasley if she took requests, which led to an impressive and unexpected performance of Dua Lipa’s “Break My Heart.”
This concert marked the first time Stacey Peasley has been back at the Walpole Library for an outdoor concert since last year. For the first time since the pandemic began, kids were able to freely wander around the field, interact with other audience members - and Peasley herself - with less panic about the spread of COVID-19. “It feels so good. So energetic. Especially on a day like today with this weather and the sun. It’s just glorious,” said Peasley. “The lack of worry that we see this year compared to last year, it’s such a sigh of relief.”
It’s been over a year since the Walpole Public Library and other local facilities have been able to host outdoor events like one of Peasley’s concerts. Wednesday’s event marked not only a start to regular outdoor events, but the resumption of a normal, program-filled summer.
COVID-19 anxiety is slowly fading away, cases are dropping, and kids are finally allowed to be kids again.
