Celebrate Mansfield at the 8th Annual Festival on the Green!
The Mansfield Downtown Partnership invites area residents to the 8th Annual Festival on the Green for music, food, and fun! The excitement begins with the Celebrate Mansfield Parade at noon and continues until 5:00 pm. The Festival on the Green will be Sunday, September 25 in front of the E. O. Smith High School (if it rains, the event will be held inside the school).
Be sure to arrive early to grab a “seat on the street” because Storrs Road (Route 195) will close at 11:45 am to accommodate the Parade. The “Pride of Connecticut” UConn Marching Band will anchor an eclectic line-up of community groups, sports teams, local businesses, animals, and larger-than-life puppets from the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry.
Children are invited to ride their bicycle or tricycle with the traditional “Bikes, Tykes, and Trikes.” To participate, children and their adult(s) should meet at the corner of Storrs Road and South Eagleville Road (Route 275) at 11:00 am. Volunteers will be there to assemble the riders.
Follow the Celebrate Mansfield Parade from the Post Office, up Storrs Road, onto Bolton Road, and into the Festival on the Green. The UConn Marching Band will open the festivities with some rousing tunes. Then, Kidsville Kuckoo Revue takes to the stage to entertain the young and young-at-heart with familiar songs and dances. There will be plenty of room to dance, and attendees are welcome to bring folding chairs and picnic blankets.
Throughout the afternoon, Mansfield businesses and organizations will be hosting a wide variety of activity booths featuring hands-on fun for all ages. Among the planned activities are hula hooping, origami, and a community quilt project. UConn’s Dining Services returns to host their popular cooking demonstrations (at 12:30 pm and at 2:00 pm). Other returning favorites include the pie-eating contest, pony rides (from 1:30 – 3:30 pm), and the petting zoo.
This year’s Festival on the Green brings a special headliner to the stage. With the help of Rod Rock, Director of the Jorgensen Center for Performing Arts, the Festival committee reviewed a long list of potential acts. The committee was drawn to the unique, funky sounds of Slavic Soul Party! and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the band’s founder and leader, Matt Moran, is a Mansfield native. While Slavic Soul Party!’s music alone would be enough to recommend them, the committee is excited to have the Mansfield connection.
Slavic Soul Party! has performed their special blend of traditional Balkan and Gypsy music, jazz, soul, and dub at the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and Carnegie Hall. The New York Times marveled at Slavic Soul Party!’s “fiery Balkan brass, throbbing funk grooves, Gypsy accordion wizardry, and virtuoso jazz chops,” while National Public Radio raved “With razor-sharp precision, juggernaut force, and a healthy dose of playfulness, these guys start out in overdrive and never let up!”
The Festival on the Green would not be possible without the generous support of the many sponsors and volunteers who contribute their time and resources to this special community event. Please be sure to visit our sponsors’ booths and thank them for their support!
At the time this article was written, the 2011 Event Sponsors are LeylandAlliance, LLC; The Oaks on the Square; and Gulemo Printing. The Landmark Sponsors are E. O. Smith High School; First Niagara; Kahan, Kerensky, & Capossela; Town of Mansfield; University of Connecticut; UConn Co-op; WILI; Willimantic Waste Paper; and Windham Community Memorial Hospital.
The Grassroots Sponsors are Cole-Chu, Cipparone & Zaccaro, LLP; Computer Rescue; CT-1 Media; Ferrigno Realtors; Holiday Hill Recreation Center; the Merchants at Storrs Commons; Nathan Hale Inn & Conference Center; People’s United Bank; Savings Institute Bank & Trust; SBM Charitable Foundation; Storrs Family Dentistry; TD Bank; UConn Foundation; Weichert Realtors – Four Corners Real Estate, LLC; and Wilcox & Reynolds Insurance, LLC.
For more information about the 8th Annual Festival on the Green, please visit the Mansfield Downtown Partnership’s website (www.mansfieldct.org/mdp) or call the Partnership office (860.429.2740).