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Committee maps event ideas for tricentennial, weighs supersizing existing town festivals
Summary
Members discussed Heritage Day plans, a possible music festival, parade logistics, brick sales and whether to add a drone show tied to larger, already-popular events rather than mounting standalone productions.
Town of Southborough Tricentennial Committee members spent a large portion of their Sept. 10 meeting planning public events and how to integrate tricentennial programming with established town celebrations.
Committee members said they want to “supersize” some existing events such as summer nights and food‑truck nights rather than create entirely standalone large productions. That approach could simplify logistics and tap into existing audiences: “We would almost, like, be cheating a little bit if we just latched on to summer nights a little bit and kinda co‑branded that because a zillion people are gonna show up to that anyway,” a committee member said.
Heritage Day (next month) will include two tents for tricentennial volunteers and a Friends booth adjacent to the tricentennial tent. Fundraisers plan to offer raffle prizes, a massage station donated by a local business and brick sales promotions at the Heritage Day booth. Committee members discussed continuing the photo booth, selling T‑shirts and using a TV inside the tent to show historical photos.
Parade planning: the parade working group has done outreach to neighboring towns and has a sample parade participant contract to review. Committee members noted the Westborough model divides participants who pay a modest fee from high‑profile performers who receive stipends; the group discussed creating contracts both for paid participants and for participants who pay a fee.
Music festival and drone show: the committee discussed a multi‑band music festival concept (five bands over six hours) and whether a drone show should be added. Several members favored tying any drone show to an existing, well‑attended event (for example summer nights) rather than staging a standalone drone production because of logistics and audience size. One member said the drone show could be used to “close out the music festival” so the drone element benefits from an existing crowd.
Bricks and installation: volunteers reported brick sales have been steady and that the Friends’ records indicate roughly $100,000 in private commitments (bricks and sponsorships combined); committee members discussed placing a first installation when a target number of bricks is sold and working with Public Works for a professional installation (or donated installation labor).
Next steps: working groups for the parade, music event and Heritage Day will reconvene to refine budgets and volunteer rosters. The music-event lead said she will produce a recommendation on scale and venue options for the committee to review.
