Fun and friendliness at Village Association's 'Main Street Madness'
Jun 24, 2016
Donna Rodrigues (right) opens a box of pizza while Lucy Zhang (center) gives out free face paintings. BY ZARRIN TASNIM AHMED
Bing Wei shows off a painting done by her daughter Lucy Zhang. BY ZARRIN TASNIM AHMED
Robert Teehan (left) and John Reidy (right) prepare to clean a car outside of Eastern Bank on Main Street. BY ZARRIN TASNIM AHMED
John Reidy uses a foam sprayer on a car. BY ZARRIN TASNIM AHMED
Three Main Street businesses stirred up some excitement on downtown sidewalks on Friday for the Wareham Village Association's first Main Street Madness event of the summer.
Organizer and Eastern Bank Vice President Rose Berry said next month's event will be more ramped up, and she hopes more businesses will get involved.
“Next month, I'll have music going with speakers,” said Berry. “This is the first one of the season. This one usually starts off slow. You'll see a lot more activity starting next month and going forward.”
Main Street Madness gives downtown business owners an opportunity to collectively promote their products and services. This year, the event is scheduled for the last Friday of each of the summer months -- July 29, August 26, and September 30.
The idea is to “bring some commerce downtown, create some activity, bring in some business, and just get to mingle,” said Berry, who serves on the Wareham Village Association's board of directors.
Berry said the organization encourages all Main Street businesses to do something special for the event.
For Minerva's Pizzeria, that meant passersby got free slices of pizza on Friday.
Outside Eastern Bank, anyone could get their faces painted by a young artist.
Though not technically a Main Street business, Boston's Best Auto Detailing, which opened a month ago, provided detailing services while employees worked.
Owned and operated by Robert Teehan of Quincy and John Reidy of Buzzards Bay, the service has a “we come to you” policy, offering complete cleaning for clients' cars, inside and out, and at any location convenient to them, such as the workplace.
Teehan and Reidy visited Wareham to be a part of Main Street Madness and build some business connections.
Berry said this is the third or fourth year the association has held the event, but it was all but forgotten about last year. The success of the event depends on the participation of the local businesses. Village Association members will be reaching out to business owners with plans to promote the July event even more.
For more information about the Wareham Village Association, visit warehamvillage.org.
