Where cultures converge
Lakeville event offers range of food, art, and music
The way the Lakeville Arts Council sees it, a Japanese noodle restaurant, two church groups offering old favorites like kale soup, and interactive entertainment inspired by TV game shows all belong in the same festival.
The council, now in its fourth year of sponsoring the Lakeville Arts and Music Festival, takes a wide view of the cultural arts.
"Food is culture, too," said organizer Joanne Corrieri-Upham.
The annual Lakeville festival exists because council members asked residents to tell them what they wanted, then created a festival based on the responses. This weekend's event will feature more than 60 crafters, daylong musical entertainment, children's activities, and an art show inside the library.
It will also include a "veggie van" that runs on vegetable oil, chances to register to vote and apply for a passport, visits by a Lakeville police officer and his canine companion, and drawing demonstrations by a street artist.
The number of festival offerings has grown along with the event's popularity, organizers said. "People are coming to us now," said Corrieri-Upham. One of them was Officer Jack Taylor, who with the police dog Fredo is part of the first canine corps the local department has had in many years.
In addition to a grant from Lakeville, the festival is funded by grants from arts councils in Middleborough, Freetown, and Berkley.
Among information booths and exhibitions sponsored by nonprofit groups and local services, the Post Office will sell stamps and take passport applications, while the town clerk's office will register voters. Street artist Mike Macaulay will execute pastel drawings of New England sports champions. Lakeville educator Kevin Richmond will pose questions for all ages in "Game Shows to Go."
The noodle merchant is Yaki Soba of Rochester, offering grilled wheat noodles filled with cabbage and bean sprouts, seasonings, and soy sauce. Members of the Lakeville United Church of Christ will serve clam chowder, strawberry shortcake, and chili from its nearby location. The First Unitarian-Universalist Society of Middleborough will offer kale soup and sandwiches on the fair grounds.
Last year's one-day event ("that's why it can't rain," Corrieri-Upham said) drew 4,000 people to a grassy site in the town center at routes 18 and 105, with activities on both sides of Precinct Street. Parking is available at the nearby Ted Williams Camp and Assawompsett Elementary School.
It's a big gathering for a community that still regards itself as rural in spirit and largely commercial free, with only one gasoline station in town. "We don't have a supermarket, a
But Lakeville does have five ponds for water resources, plus lots of local produce and animal farms, with sheep, llama, and dairy operations.
The day's music headliners include Carver-based garage-rock band Dale and the Duds, the blues rock group Darkhorse, a hammer-dulcimer acoustic outfit from Middleborough, the Starry Night Band, and a Celtic duo, the Harper and the Minstrel.
The Soule Homestead Education Center in Middleborough will sell its homegrown produce. Artisans will offer handmade wares, including jewelry, ceramics, stoneware pottery, hand-blown glass, and herbal soaps. The arts council is also selling an "Our Town" series of six postcards of Lakeville scenes chosen from a photo contest held this year.
Robert Knox can be contacted via e-mail at rc.knox@gmail.com. 