Bigger isn’t always better. But in the case of the Wayland Festival, its organizers sure hope so.
The annual event on Oct. 3 — where Town Center at Andrew and Elissa avenues turn into a huge community gathering — will feature more booths, more food, and more music. And maybe there will be more attendees, if that’s possible.
Through cell phone records, the Wayland Police Department estimated more than 6,000 people attended the event last year. Organizers hope to eclipse that number.
“What I am finding is that it is so much fun to get so many people together,” said Chris Reynolds, Wayland Fest founder and organizer. “It is so meaningful and there are so many wonderful moments. It is so nice to see people with many different backgrounds enjoying food on the town green next to each other.”
Wayland Fest is Saturday, Oct. 3, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (rain date: Oct. 4) It features music on the stage off Elissa Avenue, vendors and food up and down Andrew Avenue, and Touch A Truck and a bounce house for the kids in the Ace Hardware parking lot. There will also be a parade at 10:30 a.m.
Fran Pollitt, who is on the committee as Spaces Team Captain to help put together such an undertaking, likens Wayland Fest to a huge block party.
“I’ll tell you what I saw last year — people were surprised as they walked around that they saw their neighbors,” she said. “People would stop and chat with each other in the middle of the street. It was like village life, walking around and seeing your neighbors. Wayland usually doesn’t have that. But at the festival, that’s what happened.”
But Wayland Fest is more than seeing neighbors and friends that they haven’t run into in a while.
Pollitt reports that there will be more booths this year, as capacity of around 140 has almost been attained. Included in the booths will be more cultural and civic groups attending. But don’t worry, there will still be plenty of crafts, wares, and fundraisers as you walk up and down the street.
“We could see that [Wayland Fest] was successful last year and that is why we are seeing more booths this year,” Pollitt said. “Most of the booths are coming back and they are telling other organizations to come and give us a try.”
One booth that doesn’t necessarily fit into the aforementioned categories is the Wayland Rev250 table. It will have information on its time capsule project that is accepting items until Oct. 15. At the booth you can contribute to the time capsule with Wayland photos of scenes, buildings, or landscapes, newspaper articles, predictions of life in 2126, and more.
If music is your thing, get ready to be entertained by the Dwayne Haggins Band, which is a mix of country, soul and rockabilly, and the the Kathleen Parks Band led by Berklee College of Music-trained fiddler Kathleen Parks, who previously played with Twisted Pine. The Wayland High School Honors Ensemble will also perform.
“We have something for everyone — music, food for [all tastes], the roving railroad, artist’s marketplace,” Reynolds said.
In addition to Reynolds, Pollitt, Katherine Brenna, Yauwu Tang, Mary Ann Borkowski, Janot Mendler de Suarez, and LaToya Rivers make up the planning team.
