City Square has become a marvelous summer hangout in Charlestown, with families coming more and more to enjoy the open space and – especially – the monthly concerts in the park.
This week, Grace Bloodwell, governor of the Friends of City Square, said the concerts were on hold for the moment. While the plantings are in place, and lifting up the space wonderfully, many things are left to do or are put on hold given the uncertainty of COVID-19 restrictions in the summer.
“We are on standby now with the concerts,” she said. “We are in touch with a couple bands on stand-by. We are hopeful we can rush one later in the summer if it’s in keeping with the state and city guidelines. We’re hopeful the Dirty Water Brass Band, which is local, if we get the okay, it’s possible we’ll have them in. Right now, we cannot make a decision.”
The concerts have really grown in popularity on Wednesday evenings, especially last year when they had record attendance at most gatherings. Normally, the first concerts would have happened this week for the May edition to kick off the summer. Bloodwell said it’s all up in the air right now and much is possible.
“Maybe the programming we do gets extended into the fall,” she said. “That might be viable depending on the water and the timing.”
In the last month, the flowers in the park have been placed by Junebug Florist, and it’s making a great difference.
Bloodwell said they are waiting for the fountain to be turned on right now, and that should happen soon. However, the most exciting thing, she said, is to see so many people use the Square for open space during quarantine.
“It’s great to see people in an uncertain time have the ability to use the park and be comfortable,” she said.