Community Corner

New London To Join Westerly In Neighbor Day Event

Events at Bean and Leaf will take after celebration which has been going on in Westerly since 1993

With the motto “Your Day, Your Way,” the town of Westerly has been holding a Neighbor Day celebration since 1993; on Sunday, an event modeled on the Rhode Island town’s events will come to New London.

The First Annual New London Neighbor Day will run from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. at . The event will be hosted by Maria Monte Nott, Lorain Ohio Simister, and Daryl Finizio, a mayoral candidate who had a hand in establishing the Neighbor Day in Westerly.

Simister said she used to live in Westerly and worked at their Neighbor Day from its second year until the event three years ago. She said she has been trying to have the city support a Neighbor Day, and hopes that next year it can become a citywide event with a sister city partnership with Westerly. She said the goal of the event is “to make things peaceful, and let people know that there are other people on their side and that everything’s going to be OK.”

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Several activities and presentations will take place outside the coffeehouse, including a dance team, craft tables, work on a unity quilt, and face painting. Live music starts inside at 11:30 a.m. with a performance by Chris Castle. The remaining schedule has The Silver Hammer Band performing at 12:30 p.m., Gabriel Kastelle at 1:40 p.m., Sue Mead and Roy Gorman at 2:20 p.m., Tawney The Twelve at 4:20 p.m., The Ohio Freer Collective at 5:30 p.m., and Alien Folk Music at 7 p.m. The Neighbor Day Committee will make a brief speech at 3:10 p.m

Neighbor Day was started in Westerly as a response to a 1993 incident. According to news archives, a 16-year-old boy fatally stabbed 18-year-old Justin Gaccione, a Westerly High School graduate, and wounded 18-year-old Jonathan L. Cordier outside a pool hall. The Neighbor Day event was formed as a collaboration between Westerly City Councilor Mary Jane DiMaio and Finizio, then a student leader in the town. Westerly is holding their event on the same day, with a program on the steps of City Hall as well as musical entertainment.

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The New London event is being organized in response to the death of 25-year-old Matthew Chew, who was fatally stabbed while walking home from work in October. Six teenagers have been charged with involvement in the attack. Like the Westerly event, the goal of the New London Neighbor Day is to help the community heal and encourage people to get to know their neighbors.


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