Cushing Square Fall Festival Slated for Sept. 23

Photo: Moonshine Hollar at last year’s festival.

Mark Saturday, Sept. 23 on your calendar when you can head over to the corner of Common Street, and Trapelo road as the Cushing Square Merchants Association holds its third Cushing Square Fall Festival.

“I think this will be really great for Cushing Square. I think it needs a boost,” Mary Westcott Thomajan, owner of two Westcott Mercantile stores in Belmont and president of the 25-member Merchant Association, told the Belmont Board of Selectmen which approved her application on Monday, Aug. 7.

For the past two years, a much smaller version of the festivities dubbed the “October Festival” took place in front of Thomajan’s store in the first weekend of October. But with the completion of the Trapelo/Belmont Corridor roadway reconstruction earlier in the year and the 167,000 square-foot Bradford development underway, “it’s time to promote the square and the businesses.”

On the 23rd from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Common Street will be closed from Trapelo to the crosswalk at Palfrey Road – Payson Road will stay open – and a small portion of one way Cushing Avenue adjacent to the UPS store. 

There will be approximately 25 table spaces for local stores and if there are any empty spaces to encourage businesses from outside the square to participate. Visitors can expect local eateries to dish out their specialties and stores to set up shop as well as bluegrass music and activities such as stilt walking classes. 

While there will be four or five of the same kiddy rides which take place in Belmont Center in May, “we are not trying to mimic [Town Day] but wants to keep it locally grown,” said Thomajan who has received help organizing the event from Gerry Dickhaut, owner of Champions Sports Goods in Belmont Center and chair of the Belmont Center Business Association which manages the annual Town Day celebration.

“To have a fall event and a May event in Belmont should work well,” she said.

“This sounds exciting,” said Selectman Adam Dash. “You guys have put up with so much with construction; this is the least we can do.”

Halloween In Belmont: Cushing Square Treats; On HELLcrest [PHOTOS]

Photo: Aerosmith is in town.

Halloween has come to Belmont in the guise of two popular annual events: The Cushing Square Merchants Association’s Cushing Square Trick or Treat and the rising of the skeleton residents of Hillcrest Road which transforms into HELLcrest on Oct. 31.

A hoard of costume children and parents descended on Cushing Square as shop owners got into the mood passing out candy and in one stop, salad. This year’s best costumes were an orange tree, a child dressed as Prince, and Belmont Savings assistant branch manager Kenneth Tingle’s jack-o-lantern suit which Tingle said is part of his wardrobe.

While some communities have neighborhoods that are known for holiday lights, Belmont’s Hillcrest Road is a destination for gawkers in cars and on foot to see the collection of skeletons dressed in a wild array of outfits and in outlandish situations. And as always, the ghoulishness along the road is ruled by the Big Black Cat.

All hail the cat!

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A devil dog and a cow girl.

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Salad and drinks: certainly a treat for many.

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Floating eyeballs.

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Prince reincarnated outside the Five and Dime.

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My, what big palms you have,

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I would love a suit like Kenneth Tingle’s.

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I see a member of Aerosmith has arrived for the festivities.

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The reason my sunglasses have not arrived.

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A current cultural reference.

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A “Hamilton” mention on Hellcrest.

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All hail the cat!

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It might be the scariest place in Belmont, it’s still trash pickup on Tuesday.

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Stroll Cushing Square for Discounts, Sales During 2nd Holiday Celebration

Photo: Poster of the Cushing Square Holiday Stoll.

The Cushing Square Merchants Association is holding the Second Annual Holiday Stroll on Thursday, Dec. 10.

Running for the entire day starting at 10 a.m., stores in and around the square – located at the intersection of Common Street and Trapelo Road – will stay open late and will be offering discounts, prizes and refreshments.

The Belmont High School Madrigal Singers will be performing from 6:30 to 7:30 around the Square.