Last Sunday of summer filled with traditions as 20th stART on the Street comes to close

WORCESTER — For the past two baseball seasons, three generations of the Haley family from Fitchburg have taken to Polar Park to catch the Worcester Red Sox’s last home game of the regular season.

Sunday, when the sun was shining high and the mercury hit a high of 81 degrees, the tradition made it to a third year with 33 members of the family — or “the Haley Clan” as many of them reaffirmed in unison — took up high tops and bar seats on the main level of the stadium.

Among them was Bobby Haley, whose wife, Judy Haley, tried to collect some of their grandchildren to pose for pictures next to him.

“We have this tradition because it’s more memorable when it’s the last game of the season,” Bobby said. “It’s good weather. It’s a good day.

“It’s just a good time.”

With the last day of summer, Sept. 21, approaching, Sunday was one of the last hurrahs of the warmer season, which residents took advantage of to enjoy some of the city’s outdoor events.

While Polar Park roared with a healthy attendance as the WooSox found a way to win against the Syracuse Mets in the ninth inning, other residents sauntered through Park Avenue to catch a glimpse of the hundreds of artists at stART on the Street’s last-ever summer installment.

Annual Brazilian Festival of Worcester

A few turns away, the Brazilian Festival of Worcester awoke for its annual popup on Institute Park throughout the morning and afternoon where a few dozen vendors kicked off at 10 a.m. with sounds of Brazilian rock jolting the nearby area of Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Pollyanne and Lyssa Winslow were just driving past the park when they decided to check out the food.

Having tried Brazilian steak before, Pollyanne, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, said she didn’t want to miss the chance to do so again.

“It’s just not food you’re getting elsewhere,” Pollyanne said, also giving the food a thumbs up as she took a bite to taste the steak.

Away from the music and the main grounds of the park which were beaten by the hot sun, Breno and Polly Fonseca drank juices and took bites out of savory pastries made of sugar cane, which they said were authentic to Brazil.

Their sons, Noah, 5, and Ethan, 2, sat by their parents under the shade of a tree, also enjoying a drink and a pastry.

Although the weather felt like the summer could last a few more weeks, the Fonsecas bemoaned the end of the season.

“For us, it's a little bit hard because in Brazil all the time is like this,” Breno said.

“And so we try to enjoy every moment when we have nice days,” Polly added. “For the kids.”

As a music band honked on the Levenson Concert Stage on Institute Park, other vendors tried to keep up with curious faces browsing through soccer jerseys or following the aromas of grilled meats on rice beds.

Amanda DePaula slinged out sugar cane drinks under the tent of a Leominster restaurant called Brazuc?o, from where the Fonsecas had bought their drinks earlier in the day.

A few tents away, Andrea Lisboa stood behind the sizzling grill of catering company Marcelo’s Kitchen, dishing out acarajé, a type of street food which uses black eyed peas as the base for the dough.

She said this year’s festival was her third in a row, saying to have built a following even among non-Brazilians.

“I always get people who walk over here just for an acarajé and then go back home,” said Lisboa, laughing. “We always have a lot of people coming especially when the weather is good.”

Last and 20th edition of stART on the Street

Another few turns away, the weather was a great reason for Auburn’s Neil Stivers and Sam Bodkin to not miss the 20th edition of stART on the Street.

Along with Fozzie, their 5-month-old puppy sat with the two under the shade of a tree on grass at the edge of Elm Park, eating sausages and cupcakes they bought from a few of the 250 vendors that were expected to line up Sunday.

“We’re enjoying the music and people watching,” said Bodkin, 42.

“What usually sticks out for me is usually the woodwork,” Stivers said. “I also like the illustrators.”

With around 250 artists, stART attracted a sea of what seemed to be thousands of heads that flowed through Park Avenue, where a line of hundreds of tents stretched between Pleasant and Highland streets, both blocked off by police.

Toward Pleasant Street, the glee of the nearby local bands was often broken by the sharp beating of hot metal; Bladesmiths of the Blackstone Valley with local blacksmith Joshua Swalec had set up a demonstration show in between buildings, promoting their work and metal work classes.

Metal also clanked further down on Park Avenue where swordfighters of the Massachusetts Historical Swordsmanship battled using medieval-era replicas of swords and heavy armor, clashing on Park Avenue for the entertainment of the passersby.

Only a few tents away, a crowd often cheered as a breakdancing contest by the New England Dance Center served up.

Other artists focused on quieter crafts, such as Steve Foote of Gloucester, who had set up a tent for his book safe business.

Using real books, Foote glues the pages together, cuts out a chunk, often in the shape of the item that needs storing, such as a flask or a gun, and inserts magnets at the edges for the cover to close.

At stART since 2015, Foote saw the ending of the festival as something disheartening, saying that he started making book safes full time thanks to the festival.

“It’s well-organized and it’s consistently good,” Foote said. “The first couple years of this really opened my eyes to realize, ‘Hey, people are actually gonna buy my stuff’ and I could suddenly stop doing all the side stuff to start focusing really on this and make sure I have products all year long.'

“It's going to be hard to replace something like this, something as consistent."

The volunteer-run organization that runs stART on the Street has attributed the end of the event to the challenges of “orchestrating an event of this scale," which they said “has become increasingly daunting.”

The first installment in 2002 drew hundreds of people; that grew to thousands over the years, as was the case Sunday.

After buying a book safe from Foote made from a palm-sized hardcover about William Shakespeare, Pat Clark, of Worcester, said she had “guilt” for not volunteering in past years.

“I’m sad, I don’t want it to go,” Clark said. “I love it and I think if they had more volunteers, that's probably a piece of why they won’t be doing it anymore.”

While Sunday was the last day for the summer edition of stART, the annual holiday-themed craft show at Union Station called stART at the Station is set to take place Dec. 8.

But that’s colder-weather talk.

WooSox last home game

Sunday was a great day for baseball, especially for one in which the WooSox turned around a three-run chase against the Syracuse Mets, racking up four runs at the bottom of the ninth to win the game.

But as much as that win was reason for elation, the win was the second reason to celebrate for Gayle and Carl Whitmire, who took up a high-top table in the berm seating.

The couple, in town from Bernie, Texas, held tickets to the WooSox last home game of the season to celebrate their grandson’s ninth birthday with about 30 other third graders and their parents.

“It’s chaotic,” said Gayle with a laugh. “Until the cupcakes show up; then they’re all behaved.”

“It's like herding cats," Carl joked.

The Whitmires simply called their day “a great one,” with Gayle pointing out the warm weather.

“I usually freeze when I come here,” Gayle said. “I don’t care for the cold weather, but today was very nice…warm and sunny.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: End of summer marked by last stART on Street, WooSox, Brazilian fest