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Patrick Norton, Executive Director of the Narrows Center for the Arts, hosted a press conference to announce the 30th annual "Take Me to the River" event. He highlighted the event's dual purpose: to provide a free, high-quality cultural experience for the entire community, regardless of socioeconomic status, and to serve as an economic driver for Fall River by attracting visitors. Norton noted that last year's event drew 2,000 people, with 35% coming from outside a 35-mile radius, which boosted local businesses like hotels and restaurants. He also celebrated the completion of the Route 79 project, which has improved access to the venue, and pointed out the multi-modal transportation options available, including boats, the nearby MBTA train station, and the Fall River trolley. Mayor Paul Coogan also spoke, thanking the Narrows and the event's primary sponsor, Mechanics Bank, for making the festival possible. He encouraged residents to attend the free day of food, fun, and music at the Tom Norton Pier, a location he credited to the vision of Senator Tom Norton. A representative from Mechanics Bank, identified as Josh, reiterated the bank's pride in being the presenting sponsor for the third year. He officially invited the public to the event on Saturday, August 22nd, at the Tom Norton Pier, encouraging them to bring lawn chairs and enjoy the festivities.
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Happy Thursday, everybody. How's it How we doing? All right?
0:03Thanks for coming out. We certainly appreciate it. My name's Patrick Norton.
0:06I'm the executive director of the Narrows Center for the Arts. We're very happy here today to announce start the 30th annual Take Me to the River event.
0:13And as I look out on this Route 79 project, I remember when we started this thing 2 years ago, the road was an absolute disaster. You couldn't get through. We had all kinds of problems last year. We had the beginnings of how this was going to look. And now this year in year three, the Route 79 project is at least complete from a roadway perspective and it really makes this this destination one of the premier
0:36places in Fall River to hang out and see a show.
0:39So, let me tell you a little about Take Me to the River.
0:42The event serves two distinct purposes, I like I like to think. It's a free event and it's a free event because of our good sponsors, Mechanics Bank. We couldn't do and our other lovely sponsors, we couldn't do this. But a free event like this allows everyone in our community, regardless of their socioeconomic status, to experience a real high-quality event that I think many might not be able to do so. And
1:03that kind of ability to bring people together of all different socioeconomic backgrounds to get together helps build community and gives everyone a chance to enjoy a high-quality cultural experience. The other thing that this event does and through our survey that we did last year, last year we had about 2,000 people.
1:2135% of those people came from outside of 35-mile radius of the city of Fall River.
1:26So, what that does is all these people who come into Fall River spend money in them Fall River. So, that's new economic dollars that are infused into the city of Fall River. I can tell you the Fairfield Inn in Somerset was sold out last year. It wasn't strictly because of us, but we certainly helped. And many of the restaurants and other service-related industries saw a serious economic bump from the people who come
1:47to our events. So, that's really important to what the Narrows does.
1:50We've been doing that for the last 25 years, bringing people from outside of Fall River into Fall River to spend money, and really also it helps Fall River spread the good word that we're a great place to come, great place to visit, and uh I'll I'll leave it at that. Just my last thing is, the nice thing about this event too with the roadway all fixed, it's that it's a multi-modal transportation event. What I mean by
2:15that is last Saturday we had a smaller show here on the on the pier, and we had over 20 boats in the harbor.
2:22A small version of the Newport Folk Festival, I must say, but it's got to start somewhere. You're not going to start with 20,000 boats, it starts with 12, you get 24, 48, blah blah blah. We also have the train station right across the street, and as time goes on, more and more people will take the train to this event, and come over and walk to it, and then we also have the Fall River
2:42trolley, which is going to be stopping at the Narrows Center, stopping at the MBTA station, and bringing people in.
2:48So, I think it's a real great event, easy to get to, free, high quality, and I want to introduce the mayor of Fall River, Paul Coogan.
2:58Well, thank you, Pat, and thank the Narrows and Mechanics Bank for putting on this tremendous show.
3:02Uh as Patrick said, as activity increases on this pier through time, we're finishing up the walkway across from the street. Uh I was down here for the concert, there was a great great crowd of people. Come on down for a free day of food, fun, and music. Uh this is a very very special event for the city. We're using the pier more and more, and uh I want to thank uh Senator Tom Norton, Patrick's father,
3:25who was one of the initial ideas behind this was making this into a pier, and it's truly a great spot. But, you can't do it without sponsors like Mechanics Bank pitching in to make sure we cover everything, and the citizens of Fall River. We encourage them to come down for this very very special festival.
3:42We'd like to see both fingers of the pier full, and people on the water, and people getting a bite to eat, having something to drink, and enjoying a free night of fun and music. Let's all pray for great weather and going forward I commend the Narrows in their efforts to do all they can to help promote the waterfront in the city of Fall River. At this time, I'd like to turn it over to
4:01uh Josh from Mechanics Bank to say a few words. Without them, this wouldn't even be going on.
4:10Thank you both, Patrick, Mayor Coogan as well.
4:13Uh I Bank is once again proud to service the presenting sponsor here alongside Narrows at the beautiful Tom Norton Pier. It's our third year doing it.
4:23We're very excited about the event. Um you know, things like this open up the town to everybody. This free event open.
4:31Um you know, so we hope to see you here next Saturday, Saturday, August 22nd here at the Tom Norton Pier. Grab a lawn chair, come on down, enjoy great food, great friends, music, and uh we hope to see you here. So, thank you.
4:51Thank you.
4:51Thank you for coming out.