GREENFIELD — The city’s streets will come alive with a blast from the past, complete with $5 movies at the Garden Cinemas, sidewalk sales and a ’50s-style sock hop, during the fourth annual vintage-themed festival this weekend.
Greenfield Business Association Director Hannah Rechtschaffen said Vintage Days, which is being dubbed the Vintage Fall Stroll this year, will kick off at 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 10, with a vintage collaging session at Artspace Community Arts Center, followed by a 6:30 p.m. “Tron: Ares” showing and glow light party at the Garden Cinemas. At 6 p.m., Franklin County’s YMCA will host a 1950s-style sock hop.
“This year, it’s the Vintage Fall Stroll, because we are really focused on encouraging people to get into downtown Greenfield and around Greenfield to visit the stores, the restaurants, really engage over the holiday weekend with everything that Greenfield has,” Rechtschaffen said. “There won’t be the vintage car show or anything like that, but there will be music on the street. The GCTV radio station WMCB-LP is going to be broadcasting live all day [Saturday] in front of Greenfield Records. There are sidewalk sales, there are specials … it’s worth getting out and just exploring.”
Festivities on Saturday, Oct. 11 will start with the Greenfield Farmers’ Market at 9 a.m. along Court Square, followed by a showing of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” at the Garden Cinemas at 11 a.m. and a clothing swap at Looky Here at noon.
At noon, Franklin Community Co-op will host a Pumpkin Party, Stone Soup Cafe will host a community meal and the Garden Cinemas will host a pay-what-you-can showing of the 1948 Italian film “Bicycle Thieves.” The cinema will later host a trivia night at 6:30 p.m.
Rechtschaffen said the movie theater will also host $5 showings of “Practical Magic” and “The Witches of Eastwick.”
Rechtschaffen added that last year’s decision to move the festival to the weekend of Indigenous Peoples Day/Columbus Day resulted in an increase in attendance that she hopes will continue this year.
“We saw a lot of foot traffic last year, which was the first year that we moved it to the holiday weekend. … This is the second year that we’re doing it on the holiday weekend proper, so there’s stuff going on in other towns. People are out and about, a lot more people are visiting Franklin County and Greenfield at that time. It seems like that move really paid off and we hope to see that again this year,” she said. “It’s not just about tourists; it’s very much about visitors. Residents from Greenfield, residents from Franklin County, people from down the valley. Everybody’s a visitor when they’re discovering something new.”
A lineup of events is available at visitgreenfieldma.com/event/greenfield-vintage-fall-stroll.
