Tag Archives for Mayor James E. Doyle

Arts Festival Is a Cultural Boon

Published in Senior Digest on September 2005

Only a few thousand people came into the city to attend its first arts festival. But attendance at the multi-day event has grown steadily over the last six years.  Festival organizers estimated that last year’s Pawtucket Arts Festival drew 35,000 people.

Richard Goldstein, an aide to Mayor James E. Doyle, stated that the first festival held in 1999, drew 35 people to the library. We had so many pizzas left, we wouldn’t let people leave the building without taking a pizza home with them,” he chuckled.

How things have changed, said Goldstein, as he reflected on the growth of the festival gala. “Last year, we had 30 times the number that attended the first year’s gala,” he said.

The upcoming gala, scheduled for Sept. 9 from 6 to 9:00 p.m. at the historic Pawtucket Armory, 172 Exchange St., is expected to draw a very large crowd, too, says Goldstein. At the kick-off event, more than 80 restaurants or stores will provide food and drink to feed the large numbers expected to dine and listen to the Rhode Island Firefighters Pipers & Drums and the Louisiana-based Nathan Williams and the Zydeco Cha Chas.  There is a $5 admission to help defray some of the costs of the $ 103,000 arts festival.

The start of the festival dates to January 1999, when newlyweds Kristine and state Rep. Peter Kilmartin were taking a leisurely drive through Slater Park. Kristine, a Smithfield native, had only lived in Pawtucket for a few months, and she asked her new husband why the city didn’t take advantage of its open space. She wondered why the city couldn’t organize an event such as the Scituate Arts Festival in the 209-acre Slater Park.

The Kilmartins turned to Mayor Doyle with the idea of creating an arts festival, and the rest is now city lore. The Kilmartins never imagined the idea would evolve into three weeks of artistic and musical events that would gain statewide and international attention.

Dragon boat races

In 2000, the dragon boat races and Taiwan Day Festival drew a crowd of 2,000 people to the School Street Pier to watch six teams race in 38-foot boats.  Four years later, over 15,000 spectators watched 30 teams compete, says Bob Billington, who heads the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council.

Billington expects the widely poplar event scheduled from 9:00 a,m. to 8:00 p.m. on Sept. 10 to draw more than 20,000.

“Those attending this year’s races will be able to watch the Ten Drum Art Percussion Group performed and learn about Chinese crafts, music and dance,” he said. At the end of the day, the winning boat takes home a $ 2,000 grand prize.

“The Rhode Island dragon boat races continues to grow each year because the even has remained faithful to showcasing traditional Chinese culture, an it’s free,” says Billington.

Head Downtown

On Sept. 11 from 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., people are invited downtown where art lovers can check out the city’s growing art scene by taking a self-guided tour with maps available at the Visitor Center at 175 Main St. Stops include galleries, the Gamm and Mixed Magic theaters, the Fusion Works Dance Co. at the Pawtucket Armory, artist studios and local businesses.

On the same day from noon to 5:00 p.m., the Slater Park Family Funfest will offer an array of children’s activities, says Jeanne Zavada, who oversees the Slater Mill Historic Site.

“It’s important to introduce kids to the wide range of arts,” says Zavada and that’s what will take place at the historic site, 67 Roosevelt Ave. Works created by high school students in the “Youth Arts Exhibit” will be on display ad artisans will demonstrate crafts such as jewelry and ceramic making and weave

In addition, members of the All-Children’s Theater will perform “When Elephants Fly.” and the Providence Circus School will offer a workshop.

Music Art in Slater Park

From 10:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 17 and 18 at Daggett Farm in Slater Park, a first-class lineup of musicians playing folk and world music will fill the air. Performers will include Aztec Two-Step, Dan Pelletier, Carlos deleon and the Mystic Jammers.  Also 38 artists will offer their one of a kind art work for sale during this weekend.

When looking at the jam-packed three-week schedule of the 2005 Pawtucket Arts Festival, Mayor Doyle considers the “icing on the cake” to be the return of the Pawtucket Teachers’ Alliance Pops in the Park event with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, which is scheduled for Sept. 24. The rain date is Sept. 25.

The Street Corner Serenade opens the widely anticipated concert at 4:00 p.m.  At 5:30 p.m., resident conductor Francisco Noya will lead the Rhode Island Philharmonic’s last concert of the Summer Pops Series.  Fireworks will begin at the conclusion of the musical program.  Bring lawn chairs and blankets.

“The Pawtucket Teachers’ Alliance again comes to the plate with its generous sponsorship and its continued support of the arts programming in Pawtucket,” Doyle said.

“Its sponsorship of this event  brings this cultural icon of Rhode Island right into the heart of Slater Park, giving any Pawtucket resident the opportunity to experience a high-caliber event at no cost,” he added.

Throughout the three weeks of the 2005 Pawtucket Arts Festival, other events will include Mirror Image’s six-night film festival, the announcement of winners of the 2005 Camera Werks photo contest, a furniture exhibit organized by Rhode Island School of Design’s Catalyst Arts, tango lessons and an open house at Providence Tango, script readings at the Visitor Center and exhibits and galleries managed by the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, Slater Mill and the Water Color Society.

City Comes Alive with Art

Published in Senior Digest in September 2004

Almost six years ago, newly weds Peter and Kristine Kilmartin took a drive through Slater Park. Kristine, a Smithfield native, asked her new husband why the city did not take more advantage of its largest park. “Why couldn’t the city do something like the Scituate Arts Festival in this beautiful park,” she quizzed Peter, a state representative.

This simple question would ultimately lead to the creation of Pawtucket’s annual arts festival, which has become the largest city sponsored event in the 209-acre park at other city sites.

The Kilmartins turned to Mayor James E. Doyle with their idea of creating an arts festival and received his blessings. Pawtucket’s annual festival was born in 1999, with Peter and Kristine being appointed honorary chairs.

Initially tied to Providence’s Convergence in 1999, festival organizers consisted of Pawtucket officials, artists and civic leaders, who spun off from Convergence in 2002 and created an arts festival Pawtucket style. Since its inception, the Pawtucket Arts Festival has offered a citywide showcase of visual and performing arts, interactive workshops, music, theatre and dance performances.

Through the strong support of the local business community, the art festival’s budget has grown steadily in six years, usually set at $20,000 in 1999 to a sky-rocking budget of $105,000. 

More than 230 businesses located in Pawtucket and surrounding communities have donated over $70,000 including almost $200,000 of in-kind donations, making this year’s festival the biggest ever. In addition, more than 55 local restaurants will provide donations of food and drink for the opening gala.

Festival organizers say that attendance to the Pawtucket’s Arts Festival has grown, too, over the last five years.  In 1999, the festival drew just over a few thousand people.  Last year, an estimated 30,000 people traveled to Pawtucket to attend one of the festival’s many events.

The 1999 opening gala attracted about 35 people to the Pawtucket Public Library. In a recent meeting of festival organizers, Rick Goldstein, a mayoral aide recalled, “We had more food than people.” Last year, more than 1,000 people attended the opening gala at the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center, 175 Main St.

Crowds at the dragon boat races held at the School Street pier, have steadily increased over the years, too, from 2,000 at the first races to more than 15,000 last year.

Another big draw last year was the Rhode Island Philharmonic concern in Slater Park. Sponsored by the Pawtucket Teachers’ Alliance, the performance attracted more than 6,000 people.

This year’s festival is scheduled from Sept. 1-26, and events will be held at sites such as the Visitor Center, Slater Mill, Veterans Memorial Amphitheater, Slater Park and School Street Pier.

Although considered an official city event, the festival’s executive planning committee has reached out to the artist community for assistance to developing the artistic and musical programming for the three-week event. “We continue to grow the tradition of having the Pawtucket Arts Festival involve our artists,” says Patricia Zacks, who chairs the Slater Park Fall Fest and services as President of the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative.

“This year we saw a record number of artists wanting to get involved,” she said, noting that her program committee was artist driven. Nine artists, some of whom are members of the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, sit on the festival’s 14-person executive program committee.

According to Zack’s festival attendees will enjoy quality artistic and musical events provided by many local artisans. With the exception of the opening gala buffet and the Mirror Image Film Festival, all events, which will be of interest to people of all ages, are free.

The jam-packed schedule includes a variety of music, including the Rhode Island Philharmonic pops concern, Patty Larkin and other well-recognized folk singers, the 18-piece SOS Big Band, the Narragansett Bay Chorus, Cape Verdean musician Jao Cerilo, the Rockin’ Soul Horns, Rhode Island’s hottest rhythm and blues band and Latin-American inspired poetry and music by Aurea.

Four art exhibits will be held at the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative Gally, the Rhode Island Watercolor Society Gallery and the two Slater Mill galleries.  There will be a retrospective show, featuring 30 bronze sculptures of Jack Gresko, trolley tours of dozens of artist studios, a free performance of “Enemy of the People” courtesy of the Sandra Feinstein Gamm Theatre, the All-Children’s Theatre production of “The Legend of Juan Bobo,” Arts Fest 2004 – an arts and craft show – and an opportunity to meet filmmakers during the six-night Mirror Image Film Festival.

Another event is Slater Mill’s Ethnic and Heritage Festival, which will feature Revels’ Circle Song. The touring ensemble will present “An American Journey,” using song, dance and story to tell about the early century voyages that brought immigrants from Ireland, Italy, and Eastern Europe to this country.

One of the signature events of the festival are the dragon boat races, scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 11th at the School Street Pier. “This year we received larger and wider boats,” boast’s Bob Billington, president of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, the Pawtucket-based nonprofit tourism organization that oversees the races and the related cultural artistic and musical events. “Nobody has this type of boat in New England,” Billington claims.

Billington says with the phenomenal growth of the festival and closer ties with the government of Taiwan forged by Congressman Patrick Kennedy, this year’s festival will have even more Taiwanese and cultural  events. Added events include an exhibit 30 of the best photographs taken by Taiwanese amateur photographers of different scenes of the country.  G-TECH will host six deaf artists, who will exhibit their work and technique during the races, and a Taiwanese kite master will fly a 1,000-foot kite over the site.

As to non-Taiwanese activities, Billington notes that Pawtucket wood sculptor Billy Rebele will carve an eagle out of a log with his  chain saw, and artist Chris Kane will again organize a metal pour at the pier.

Mayor James E. Doyle said the pops concert scheduled for Sept. 18 from 4 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. is another anchor event of the festival. A $15,000 donation from the Pawtucket Teachers’ Alliance and sponsorships from 46 local businesses enabled the city to bring the prestigious Rhode Island orchestra back to Slater Park, the mayor said.

“Teachers residing throughout Pawtucket and in surrounding communities are strongly committed to building a better cultural community and a place to live,” says Mary Ann Kaveny, president of the Pawtucket Teachers’ Alliance. “Programs such as the pops program are important life experiences that young students should have the opportunity to see and hear,” she added.

Kaveny says that the concert is a great venue for grandparents to bring their children and grandchildren. “We believe that this is the best family-oriented event that is held annually in the city,” she said.

City Councilor Don Grebien, who co-chairs the executive planning committee with his wife Laureen, sees the upcoming festival as a vehicle to bring the city’s growing artistic, blue collar and ethnic communities together.

“The President Arts Festival ties in well with the city’s efforts to create an artist friendly city, Grebien says, making Pawtucket a regional destination site.

Ben Batted 1,000

Published in Senior Digest on July 2004

Played on April 18, 1981, and June 23, 1981, Major League Baseball’s longest game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings lasted for more than eight hours and 33 minutes.

Owner Ben Mondor’s watches over his bellowed Pawtucket Red Sox, the Triple-A International League affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, has stretched over 28 years, totaling more than 36,288 innings.

For baseball trivia buffs, both statistics are worthy of the history books.  Throughout his long career that began in 1977, Pawtucket baseball icon has accumulated 57 large scrap books crammed with newspaper clippings noting his achievements

Mondor, now age 79, admits that he didn’t have the necessary skills to play on a high school team, but his contributions as owner of the Pawtucket Red Sox to the City of Pawtucket, the state of Rhode Island and to the fans are legendary.

Some of the articles in Mondor’s scrapbooks note many, prominent awards he has received over the years. Among them, is the prestigious 2002 award from the Association of Fund-Raising Professionals, which recognized the Triple-A clubs as Rhode Island’s Outstanding Philanthropic Business. For his outstanding community service, he received the 2001 Hope Award from the Rhode Island State Council Knights of Columbus and the Pawtucket 2004 Foundation’s Heritage Award.

Over the years Mondor has also been recognized by peers for his exceptional and significant contributions to America’s favorite pastime. The Paw Sox owner and former Boston Red Sox CEO John Harrington are the only two non-uniformed members of the Red Sox to earn the BoSox Booster Club’s Man of the Year Award.  Meanwhile, Mondor took home the National Association of Professional Baseball League’s” John H. Johnson  President’s Trophy” in 1990.  Under Mondor’s watch, the Pawtucket Triple-A Club was also selected by Baseball America as the top Triple-A operation receiving the 1990 and 2003 Bob Freitas Award, only one of the three minor league franchises to receive that coveted award twice.

Last month, Ben Mondor Day was held at Fenway Park in Boston, Mondor says that the one-hour ceremony recognized the financial stability of his organization and the high caliber of his players. During his tenure, more than 422 ballplayers have completed stints in Pawtucket before joining American League or National League teams.

On a recent day, Mondor is sitting in his spacious office at a long conference table with his back to a huge rectangular window that gives him a magnificent view of the McCoy Stadium diamond.  Dozens of autographed baseballs in their plastic protective cases line the window ledge.

“Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens signed balls,” Mondor noted, pointing to the keepsakes that hold memories of ballplayers’ visits to his office.  Adding to the ambiance, are three walls of photographs of Pawtucket Red Sox players, and scenes of McCoy Stadium. “It’s quite a place filled with heart-felt mementos,” he says.

Prominently placed on wall are photographs of 12 special supporters of Mondor’s. All of them are deceased, he reveals. “It’s scary to be the last one left,” he says.

“These are the people who got me interested in baseball and gave me a big hand when I took over the Pawtucket Red Sox in 1977,Mondor explains. Pointing to a photograph of the late Chet Nichols, a baker for former Hospital Trust, Mondor says, “He urged me to keep the team in Pawtucket.”

Looking at a photograph l of the late Ted Mulcahey, a sports editor for the Pawtucket Times, Mondor recalls the encouragement and guidance the newspaperman offered during his efforts to purchase the team and in his early day of ownership.

Mondor’s thirst for knowledge would lead him from Brown University, to the University of Rhode Island to Bryant College, where he “studied what he wanted to study.” Although he never graduated from college, he became a self-taught engineer, sharpening his craft by working in the mills of Woonsocket.

In a career shift lasting 18 years, Mondor would learn the trade of buying bankrupt businesses and restoring them to resell for a profit.  In a move that would change his life, Mondor took over the bankrupt Pawtucket Red Sox in 1976. At the time, he was retired and living in Lincoln.

Mondor says that the Pawtucket franchise could have been lost if he had not taken it over. “No Triple-A team could have come into Pawtucket because of the size of the city’s population and size of the stadium,” he says.

Thirty years ago, before Mondor purchased the franchise, he admits to be woefully uninformed about Pawtucket.  Today, he sees the city as a symbol of all the old mill cities in New England, successfully changing to survive. “We’re glad that we have become an institution for this city,” he says.

Speaking of Mondor, Pawtucket Mayor James E. Doyle says the team owner has been the unofficial ambassador for both baseball and the city.

Mondor’s fondest memory of his long career was during the 1999 season when McCoy Stadium underwent, a $16-million renovation and expansion.  After the renovations, the smallest of all Triple-A stadiums met the requirements of the Professional Baseball Association (PBA) with Disabilities Act.  One of the PBA’s criteria concerns seating capacity, and McCoy went from 6,000 to more than 10,000.

Along with more seats, the project entailed a new grandstand with an entry tower, a new playing field, an expanded main concourse with additional restrooms and concession stands, a new video board and a new scoreboard.

During Mondor’s first year as the owner of the Pawtucket Red Sox, only 70,000 fans came to watch the pennant-winning ball club.  During 2001, season in a renovated McCoy Stadium, however, attendance hit a franchise record of 647,928 fans – the first time the club drew more than 600,00 people.

Mondor is also proud of the upcoming Triple-A All-Star Game that will be held in Pawtucket this month. “It is usually a one-day affair, but we are planning to expand it to three days,” he said proudly, noting that no other Triple-A-Club in his memory has ever rolled out the red carpet like the Pawtucket Red Sox.

According to Mondor, in the 20 years of Triple-A clubs sponsoring this event, this is the first time ever that additional days were added to include festivities.

Retiring at the end of the 2004 season, Mondor has not regrets. “It’s been a long road and God’s been good to me,” he quips.

Poor health keeps Mondor from traveling with Madeline, his wife of 47 years.  However, he will continue to collect Russian artwork, visit museums detain the history of nations. An avid reader, the outgoing owner says he has more than 5,000 books in his study.

“By reading about the people who were instrumental in creating nations, in biographies and autobiographies, you might be surprised you can learn,” Mondor points out. “You can learn what they were thinking and why they acted in certain ways.”

If someone was to write his biography, Mondor would want readers to know that as the long-time Pawtucket Red Sox owner, he considers himself to be the luckiest man in the world. Additionally, he would want to get the message out about the importance of working. “Go to work. There is no substitute for work, and it will ultimately lead to your success,” he says.

Mondor says the secret of the franchise’s success under his rein is simple. “our philosophy was always to make McCoy Stadium an affordable, family-oriented place,” he says.  In the last 28 years, the rice of general admission tickets has remained at $4, and the cost of better seats has gone up from $7 to $9.

When asked about becoming a baseball icon in the Ocean State, Mondor attributed his well-recognized success to being surrounded by “the best people in baseball.” Rattling off a list of names l- Mike Tamburro, Lou Schwecheimer, Bill Wanless, Michael Gwyon and Mike Tedesco- along with 20 others in his administrative offices, Mondor knows he’s got a “well-oiled machine that actually runs by itself.”

“They make me look so good,” he says. Tamburro, the first employee that Mondor hired, will take over the reins at the end of the 2004 season. “He’s like my surrogate son.  We   work the same way and also have the same philosophies,” Mondor said.

Tamburro, who is President of the franchise agrees. “It’s been an honor to work side-by-side with Ben for the past 28 years. We shared dreams, a work ethic and a strong belief in our wonderful Pawtucket community.”

“Its my hope that the Paw Sox will always continue to uphold Ben’s idea of ting baseball  with family entertainment,” Tamburro says.