But in the meantime, party at CanalFest
Free the Blackstone! This is the call that the Canal District Alliance wants you to hear as you stroll along Harding Street on Saturday, September 6, from 11a.m.-6 p.m. at CanalFest 2008.
This free festival will feature horse-drawn wagon tours of the Canal District, food from over 20 local restaurants and vendors, the Canal Kids Tent with interactive activities, tunes from New England Soul Revue, the New England Gospel Choir, Jason James and the Bay State Houserockers, plus Manolo Mairena and Curubande.
In addition, this year’s festival will have a second stage that will include local and regional artists, dancers, magicians, and even a CanalFest Idol Contest where talented local amateurs will compete. At the heart of it all you’ll discover a 75-foot-long replica of the Blackstone Canal, filled with more than 70,000 gallons of water (and yes, maybe a kayak in there for good measure). All this offers a backdrop for discussion and interpretation of the canal.
Buried under Harding Street in the 1890s, the Blackstone Canal transformed Worcester in the early 19th century by establishing a commercial water link to Providence and the sea. Modern improvements covered it over a hundred years ago, but the waterway still flows beneath the streets of the city. The Canal District Alliance is spearheading a proposal to recreate the watercourse along Harding Street to form the backbone of a dynamic mixed-use district in the heart of the city.
“This is a festival that many people in Worcester County and Central Mass look forward to attending,” said Roxann Horton, festival chairperson. “As in the previous two years the committee has worked diligently to stage a festival that spotlights the historic Canal District and highlights the diverse businesses that make up the neighborhood today, while providing fun for all ages.”
“The CanalFest is unique in the sense that it blends the historic past with the fashionable and trending future,” said Christina Andrianopoulos, publicity chairperson for the event.
The Canal District, once the center of an American Renaissance in New England with lyceums, literature, the arts, and reform movements thriving around its banks, is now at the heart of a wave of change within the city itself.
“In the five years that I have returned to Worcester, it has emerged into an interesting, fun, exciting neighborhood that includes businesses that have been here for over 80 years like Table Talk Pies, Joseph’s Locks, Lucky Dog, the Broadway Diner and more ... as well as newcomers like Block 5, Bocado, Canal Lounge, the Banner Pub, Tush, and more,” Andrianopoulos said.
Allen Fletcher, president of the Canal District Alliance, noted, “An important aspect of the CanalFest is to continue to promote public awareness of the proposed canal replication project and to celebrate the re-awakening of one of Worcester’s most storied neighborhoods.”
Celebrate a rebirth by water — even if you can’t see it — for its spirit lives on Harding Street. o
