Providence City News: John Pesaturo, Silver Lake Little League

From the City News interview series...

My Neighborhood: Silver Lake/Olneyville

Every year, John Pesaturo, Jr. gears up for his annual romp through a spring’s field, but he’s not surrounded by rows of young daisies, daffodils, or tulips. Instead, he’ll find himself tending to about 300 young little leaguers that range from five to sixteen years of age, a handful of coaches, many doting parents, and of course, some loyal fans. John, a resident of Olneyville and the West End for 27 years, has been the president of the Silver Lake/Olneyville Little League for about six years now. He recounts the more competitive, somewhat exclusive years of his own youth as a little leaguer for the Federal Hill Dairy club, and takes pride in the fact that today’s league welcomes virtually every young person who wants to play. In the end, championship title or not, every one gets a trophy.

How long has the Silver Lake/Olneyville Little League been in existence?

56 years.

How long have you been the president of the league?

6 years.

What about the sport of baseball attracts you and why did you become involved?

I first became involved when my son who’s 21 now, played Mighty Mights when he was 15 and progressed through the senior league.

What attracts me to the sport? One, the love of baseball and two, I just love working with the kids. At least the kids are off the streets. In that neighborhood, we have lot of single parents. We have children from Olneyville, both Manton and Hartford projects, and the rest come from surrounding Silver Lake neighborhoods.

This is something that keeps the kids busy and active and out of trouble. I really enjoy seeing the kids have fun. When you see a kid get his first hit, and see him with a smile on his face, that’s just gratifying in and of itself.

All in all, I think it’s just the sport. Everyone enjoys it. Baseball seems to run the longest season. The enjoyment of it, being outside, and the kids having fun are really what attracts a lot of people to it.

Your league has recently been awarded a Dexter Donation grant by the City. How will this award benefit your league?

Well, because we’re 100 percent self-funded, the Dexter grant will help us with needed equipment. The registration fees and sponsorships only go so far. Our players receive uniforms and they keep them. Also, we hand out trophies at our annual banquet.

Tell us about your league. What makes it unique? Why do you stand out?

I think what makes the Silver Lake/Olneyville Little League unique is that I have my T-Ball director Paul Grande, who has been with the league over 50 yrs. There are kids that have played for him came back and coached for us. My vice president and player agent has been with the league over 20 yrs. Both their kids played with the league and one of them coaches with his father.

Our coaches come from many different professions – Providence Police officers, Cranston prison guards, meat counter supervisor at Stop & Shop, car salesman, retired city workers, and even a nurse at Miriam Hospital They all go through a background check, and are CPR certified. Many of them have been there for three to five years.

Another thing we do is that we don’t turn any kids away. If they don’t have the ability to pay the registration fees, we work something out. If we get too many kids, we just make another team. Some way, somehow, we’ll make a way for them to play. I don’t believe in turning kids away. That’s important.

The other thing that makes us stand out that I know from talking to other league presidents is that every kid in our league gets a trophy. A little trophy goes a long way. It makes the kids feel good. I think that if one kid gets a trophy, all of them should get one.

Did you play in a little league as a kid?

Yes, I played at the Dexter Training Grounds for a team called the Federal Hill Dairy … that’s a long time ago!

How has the sport changed in the City since you played?

I see more kids involved with it. I see it being less of a competition and more to have fun. That’s what I see. Back then, you had to try out and if you weren’t good enough you didn’t make it. Today, we don’t turn kids away.

We are lucky enough to have lights at our ball field. Some who don’t are limited to the amount of games they can play and teams they can have. I also remember that there was never a banquet, and because of it, the only team that got a trophy was the winning team.

What do you see or envision for the future of your league?

I’d like to see the girls division grow, as well as the older boys division.

How would you encourage more girls to play?

I would encourage them to come and try it. You make new friends, and they can go on and compete in the All-Stars, where they play against girls’ teams all over the state. It’s a way to promote good competition and learn sportsmanship.

If you want to see John in action this spring, the Silver Lake/Olneyville little league ball field is located on Killingly Street, just around the corner from the Neutaconkanut Recreation Center. The season runs from May to August and registration is held until April at the Silver Lake Community Center at 529 Plainfield Street. For more information, you can call John Pesaturo at 270-6739 or click here to send him an email.

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Hackable Idea Of Week: TrustedPlaces

A friend of mine in the U.K. has invested in a mobile user-created content company called TrustedPlaces. They are just up and running in the U.K. mainly London. I love their idea. Members use their phones to capture pics of local places that are "trusted", good food, good service, good atmosphere, good stuff. They can then write a review via mobile, or when they return to their computer, on the "trusted place". The trustedplaces.com site does a bang-up web 2.0 job of displaying the places, tagging, reviews, average ratings, trusted places nearby, other fans, etc.

Members (Trusted People) can then use their phone to get a place forwarded to them, look up the nearest trusted place, find nearby places, search for a tag, and so on.

I love these simple apps that use the (mobile) web to support our real world pavement level needs !

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Pawtucket Emergent

I always find Pawtucket to be interesting. The idea of "Pawtucket" in the online world feels full of raw energy and potential, brimming with possibility. Its always so at odds with what I feel when I go to Pawtucket. But perhaps those two realities are slowly drawing closer, and the internal passion held by Bucketeers will express itself in pavement-level vibe.

Two upcoming events speak to that promise, as Pawtucket hacks its way to a new identity. The first, Planning Pawtucket: Designs and Dreams for a Once and Future City is held by PADS at The Grant. Its an exhibition of urban planning work meant to "broaden thinking, illuminate ideas, and generate discussion within the community as it undergoes initiatives to reshape the downtown and plan for future growth". Similar to the New Your City initiative, it provides a novel and reflective chance to reflect and envision, without experts driving the bus.

The second is the RI Statewide Historic Preservation conference. Normally I wouldn't log this as a very hackable event, but it feels like the active new urbanists and the green building folks are injecting something new into the conversation this time.

Planning Pawtucket:
Designs and Dreams for a Once and Future City
April 6 - 27 @ The Grant 250 Main Street, Pawtucket, RI
Opening night Friday, April 6 from 6 PM - 8 PM

Something Old, Something Green
RI Statewide Historic Preservation Conference
Saturday, April 14, 2007 @ The Pawtucket Armory

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New Your City: Kids Can Hack Too !

Check out this very cool project by Secret Door Projects called New Your City. Set up in cooperation with the Fox Point public library and the support of several local art funding groups, New Your City allows kids and grown-ups to envision their city by building a scale model with cardboard, string, glue, and other found materials. Unfortunately the website is down now, but the concept is still very good.
Built in 12 sessions across the month of March, the project combines tangible creation with conscious reflection on what a "city" means. Too bad the construction is over, but it will be on display for a while at the library. It struck me how much more visceral and real this felt, compared to the Providence Tomorrow charrettes run by the Providence DPD and their consultants. Perhaps because the creators were mainly kids, who don't come burdened by agendas, or perhaps because the process didn't march in lock-step to a template of urban planning "success" ?

I hope the artists do it again next year, and maybe we should fund them to do some community planning, rather than the "experts".

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Providence City News: Bonnie Nickerson, Providence Tomorrow city planner

From the City News interview series...

My City: Providence Tomorrow

This week, City News catches up with city planner Bonnie Nickerson, who is also a resident of Washington Park, to get the inside track into how a community comes together to form a neighborhood.

What goes into planning a neighborhood charrette? And what role are you playing?

The citywide charrette that took place in the fall set the stage for this first of ten neighborhood charrettes, which are slated to take place over the next two years. Using the input that resulted from the citywide charrette, we updated the interim comprehensive plan, which is now available for review on our website.

In the plan, we talk about the citywide vision and identified neighborhoods that need further study. We looked at areas that are mostly stable, and those that are most likely to grow and change. From a planning standpoint, aspects like Character, Height, and Density are things that need to be addressed in the neighborhood level.

What steps have you taken to get neighbors involved?

We have a project team that is made up of people from the neighborhood. For the upcoming charrette for example, we have Fran Murphy of the Washington Park Community Center (where the charrette will be taking place), members of the City Council, and representatives from various city departments who have come together to brainstorm about outreach and to come up with an outreach plan.

In addition, there are a number of stakeholders who we rely on to give input. In this case, residents, neighborhood businesses on Broad Street, Eddy, and Allens Avenue, businesses in the Industrial Park, businesses in the Port of Providence, Johnson & Wales University (who has a campus in the neighborhood), the Parks Department (given that Roger Williams Park is located in South Elmwood), schools, families that access the community center, the Casey Family Services, and church congregations.

Every resident in the Washington Park and South Elmwood neighborhood was sent an invitation with a schedule in the mail. Posters were put up in neighborhood businesses, as well as in places like the elderly housing complex Park West, at Laundromats, - all kinds of places. Personal letters were sent to businesses and phone calls were made to organizations. Also, Casey Family Services and the Washington Park Community Center sent out invitations to people who utilize their services.

Certainly, much has been done to get the word out.

Yes. One of the special outreach activities we’ll be doing involves all the fifth graders at the Alan Shawn Feinstein Elementary School on Broad Street. On Friday, March 23 in the afternoon, we will be engaging in an activity with the students called “Box City.” The exercise will include a full floor-sized model of a section of Broad Street (from Miller onto their school) using different sized boxes to represent businesses, houses, etc. The students will be asked to devise a vision of what they’d like their street to look like. We’ll be talking to them about city planning and each of them will receive a certificate from the Mayor stating that they helped to plan their neighborhood.

Each student will receive an invitation to the charrette to take home and kids who bring a parent to the charrette will receive a prize.

That sounds like a great way to get the kids in the neighborhood school involved in the planning process. Why would you encourage Washington Park and South Elmwood residents to attend the upcoming charrette for their neighborhoods?

I would encourage them because they have an opportunity to discuss with their neighbors and with other people that they don’t come in to contact with every day, a vision for what they’d like their neighborhood to be, and to talk about issues that are important to them.

In turn, they get to inform us of bits and pieces that need change, that need help, places that need better pedestrian crosswalks for example, ideas on how to improve the look of the streets in their neighborhood.

The reason this is important is because we’re going to take all the input they give to develop a neighborhood plan that will help guide future city activities related to planning.

If there was one event throughout the week that people won’t want to miss, it’s the one on Saturday (3/24). There are two sessions and people can come in the morning (8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.) or in the afternoon (1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.). What we’re going to be doing is asking groups of people to gather around a blank map of the neighborhood. They will be give five topics to think about. With a half hour spent on each topic, using color markers and stickers, they will be given the opportunity to map out their ideal neighborhood.

The topics are:

1) Circulation (bus travel, bus stops, transit, biking ways, walking, car travel, key intersections, and parking)

2) Land Use (for example what kinds of businesses do they want to see that aren’t there now, mixed uses, etc)

3) Character (what do they want their neighborhood to look like? Building height? Density both residential and commercial. Streetscapes)

4) Neighborhood Amenities (parks, “tot lots,” other recreational opportunities)

5) What’s missing?

What do you hope to get out of the charrette?

I hope that a lot of people will come because if we get a lot of people then we know that we will get good discussions going and that we will get a lot of good input from the neighbors. If people come, it will be a real success and we expect to get better results out of it.

As a resident of Washington Park yourself, what do you like most about your neighborhood and where do you see it going in the future?

The thing I love most about it is that I can walk to Roger Williams Park. I have two dogs and I’m there almost everyday. It’s close to downtown. For me, my commute is minimal.

Washington Park is basically a waterfront neighborhood. There is a lot of opportunity to link the resident part to the waterfront. Like Save the Bay is right inside the neighborhood but right now, there’s no real link to it. To me, that’s one asset to build on.

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Providence City News: Scialo Brothers Bakery

From the City News interview series...

My Business: Sisters Scialo of Scialo Bros. Bakery

When Luigi Scialo migrated to Providence’s Federal Hill ninety-three years ago, he brought with him the rich traditions of his Italian heritage. For almost a century, residents and tourists alike have embraced the most notable contribution that he made to the City of Providence when he, along with his brother Gaetano Scialo, built and ran the Scialo Bros. Bakery on Atwells Avenue.

Today, two of his daughters, Carol Scialo Gaeta and Lois Scialo Ellis, are the proud owners and legacy-keepers of this beloved family business. And while both of them had successful careers before taking on Luigi’s bakery -- Carol was a medical secretary and doing catering on the side and Lois was a public school teacher -- their customers just would not let them close shop when they inherited the business from their father after his death in 1993.

At the onset of the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19 (St. Joseph is also considered in some traditions to be the Patron Saint of Pastry Chefs), City News catches up with Carol and Lois, “the Scialo Sisters,” for an informal history lesson about Italians on Federal Hill, women entrepreneurs, and the sweet origins behind the coveted zeppole.

How long has Scialo Bros. Bakery been operating in Providence?

LOIS: Our dad, Luigi Scialo, came to Providence from a village just outside of Naples in 1914 before World War I. He was the youngest of thirteen children. In 1916, together with his brother Gaetano (the baker), they opened and ran a bakery. The bakery came to Federal Hill in the mid-1920s. When his brother returned to Italy, dad became the sole owner until his death in 1993. He was 103 years old.

Dad had two older children from a previous marriage. In the 1938 hurricane, his first wife and their youngest child were killed.

Two years later, he married our mother, Assunta, who grew up in Federal Hill, and they had three children, Carol, Susan, and me. We all grew up in the tenements upstairs from the bakery. And the bakery was our playground.

CAROL: We only worked in the front of the bakery because back then it was a man’s world. All the bakers were male.

Tell us about your family’s tradition and legacy on Federal Hill.

C: When we were growing up, a lot of the Italian families were living in tenements just like ours when Federal Hill was truly a neighborhood and not just a business district. But now, it’s a real neighborhood too.

L: Yes, do you know where Route 10 runs now? There were rows of tenement housing there back then. Venda Ravioli was the 5&10 Cents Store.

After World War II, major changes affected the way of life here. A lot of the families started to move out. The availability of the automobile, the GI Bills for college – caused a lot of people to move out of the Hill and into the suburbs.

C: We were included in that mix. Our family moved to Warwick.

L: But mom and dad worked here. We were all expected to be here during the holidays and during busy times. Even though we were all married, had children, had careers – the expectation is that when it was busy in the shop, you were here to help in the family business.

When our parents passed away, each of us (the 3 sisters) inherited a piece of the bakery. And so we had to decide what to do with the business.

C: We decided that we were going to sell it. But the deal with the buyer didn’t work out.

L: And prompted by our customers who, when the word got out that we were closing the bakery, started writing us letters, calling us on the phone, and asking us, ‘Where are we going to get our cookies now? Our zeppoles?’ So, we took a step back and decided to rethink things through.

C: We applied for a business loan. With it, we were able to redo a lot of things in the store, and make some needed repairs.

L: Our youngest sister decided not to join so we bought her share of the business and formed an LLC and took out an SBA loan. Back then, women weren’t encouraged to run their own businesses. But through a lot of hard work, we managed to attain a loan.

C: And, after we finally got things organized we had a smoke fire in one of the brick ovens out back.

L: Carol and I weren’t in the shop at the time but the workers called the fire department. When the firefighters came, they flooded the ovens with water and we sustained some water damage throughout the shop.

C: It was the best thing that could’ve happened to us because it forced us to regroup and make further needed improvements to our business. It took us a year to get back on track and we closed the business from June 1993 through April 1994. Also during that time, things started to really happen in the City. Waterfire came to town and the Renaissance was beginning to happen.

L: And so here we are!

Other than the long history and legacy of your father’s business, which is now in your care and ownership, what makes you stand out from the rest?

C: A lot of bakers do the short-cuts. We try to do it the way dad did it because we want our product to be different. We want to be a specialty bakery.

L: We also do it because we really enjoy it!

C: Every Christmas we might be banging our heads against the wall, but you know, I would be baking at home anyway even if I wasn’t doing this now. And all of our kids have baked and helped us at one time or another.

So how do you celebrate St. Joseph’s day?

L: By working very very very hard to satisfy the masses!

C: It’s a fun holiday though. And plus there’s really only one item that gets produced en masse and that is, of course, the zeppola! (Zeppole is the plural form.)


Every St. Joseph's Day, sisters Lois (left) and Carol (right) are swarmed with orders for traditional Italian fried doughnuts, zeppole.

What goes into the Scialo Bros. Zeppola?

L: We make them from scratch.

C: We do sell them all year long – the baked ones. (The traditional one is fried and gets sold during St. Joseph’s Day). We use pure vanilla in our cream.

And I noticed you have two kinds of crème filling?

L&C: Yes, yellow pastry cream and ricotta.

C: The ricotta one was my recipe.

L: Other bakers will sometimes do pre-made ingredients, whether it’s the shell or the cream. There aren’t a whole lot that make their zeppole from scratch.

So how many zeppoles do you sell during St. Joseph’s?

L&C: Thousands!

Do you know where the zeppola came from?

L: It differs from region to region, but I believe it’s a Southern Italian tradition, where most of the people who migrated to Rhode Island came from. You’ll find that people have different ways of baking their pastries, some stray from the traditional ways, others don’t. Like the wandies for example – some dribble them with honey, others sift powdered sugar on top.

C: We’ve also done a few of our own new recipes at the bakery. When our dad ran the place, we had the jimmycakes, the zuppe ingles, the cassato. Now, we also offer a double chocolate cake, a white chocolate cake with pineapple, tiramisu, and so on. We’ve been busy devising new pastries.

In your opinion, do you think that appreciation for the Italian heritage remains strong in Providence today? If so, why?

L: Absolulety! The best evidence of that can be seen in the movie that John Raben did called, Italians on Federal Hill! {Lois shows a picture of her and her sister on the cover of the video, which is also sold at their bakery.} I think that when people come to Providence, Federal Hill is truly a destination for them.

C: In fact, we give tours of the bakery now. We give our guests dessert, some coffee, and a demonstration of how to bake bread. We charge $4.00 per person.

L: Yeah, the tour companies have called on us to participate. We’ve had corporations, garden clubs, and senior citizen groups come.

C: Food is really big thing.

What about your Italian heritage and culture are you most proud of?

C: This whole thing. This, right here. I think food brings people together.

L: Yes, and being able to carry on a family tradition and maintaining the same high standards that our dad set for us all.

In some communities, St. Joseph’s Day doubles also as a kind of father’s day celebration to commemorate the work of Joseph of Nazareth, legal father of Jesus Christ. But the most popular tale, in some parts of the United States, depicts St. Joseph as the hero who brought rain in the midst of a severe drought in Sicily during the middle ages. In gratitude, the Sicilian people would prepare a big feast in his honor.

In a way, the Scialo Sisters – and their extended family – have established their own widespread tradition originating in Providence that allows so many people not only to carry on the ritual of feasting during St. Joseph’s Day, but that also honors the legacy of their dad, Luigi.

Whether it’s the ricotta or the yellow crème zeppola, Carol and Lois still bake all their breads and pastries in the same impressive brick oven that their father and his brother baked in almost a century ago. And while some aspects of the business underwent minor facelifts, and new pastries have been added to the menu, the Scialo Sisters stand proudly by the traditional Italian recipes they inherited from the original Scialo Brothers.

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Providence City News: Mary Ellen Flanagan, RWP Botanical Center

From the City News interview series...

This week, City News had the pleasure of taking a first look behind the scenes of the soon-to-be-unveiled Roger Williams Park Botanical Center. Taking us on a tour of the new facility was Mary Ellen Flanagan, a six-year city parks landscape designer, who co-masterminded the revitalization of this 40-year old local attraction.

Surrounded by glorious palm trees, a spectacular Moon Gate Wall, and the beginnings of what will be a Mediterranean water feature, the Botanical Center includes two new greenhouses towering at 6,000 square-foot each and in the future will greet visitors with 6 acres of outdoor gardens. Two old greenhouses, which are approximately 4,500 square-foot each, will be home to outdoor classroom and lecture spaces, as well as exhibit spaces for plant enthusiasts from all over the City and State.

Mary Ellen takes us through the spectacular results of this perfectly manageable, perfectly scaled center for all things green and grounded.


In your opinion, how does the new Botanical Center at Roger Williams Park benefit our City’s neighbors and greater public? What new features will it have that the old one didn’t?

This is definitely a great project for the City of Providence, a perfect scale, very manageable, and it’s paid for. For the public, it’s big enough to have that ‘Wow!’ factor, but it’s not too large that it becomes a burden for the city and the parks department to run. Having another great attraction for visitors, in addition to the zoo (and other amenities at Roger Williams Park), I think will be welcomed by the plant enthusiasts who come back to learn something totally different every time, by the school children and their teachers who stop by throughout the year for educational field trips, and by our many partnering plant and garden groups who will have a place where they can meet and teach the public about what they’re so passionate about.

It also provides an education component that we’ve been looking for. We’ve always had a number of school groups that have walked through the greenhouse, and now, we will have an opportunity to conduct more educational programs at the new Botanical Center. Schoolteachers were looking for this, too. And now it’s really formalized – the programs for schools as well as for the general public. I think that in and of itself is a wonderful opportunity for teachers.

What role did you play in designing the new Botanical Center? Describe the thought process behind the design.

I worked with the Parks Department team – Fred Holman, who is a landscape architect, primarily did the exterior, overall site. We also worked with John Izzo, the engineer, and Jim Shepard, the greenhouse manager. Of course, Alix Ogden, the Parks Superintendent, and Bob McMahon, the deputy. We all worked on the overall design of the new Center. One of the important things we discussed as we planned out the space was the flexibility of it all. We wanted the ability to move plants around for seasonal exhibits, as well as for our partnering plant groups to display their shows in on a rotating basis. There will be certain features, like our collection of carnivorous plants and our orchids that will be permanent fixtures in the display room. In the end, there will be thousands of plants displayed in the Botanical Center.

I was responsible for the interior design, which includes the Moon Gate Wall that is sure to be a showstopper for visitors to take photographs in and send to friends as a memento of their time in Rhode Island. There’s also the Linear Pool, which is flanked by a Mediterranean-style water feature. And again, I helped in the overall concept of the Center, as we debated over constant color choices. In fact, they call me the Color Queen around here!

How did you decide which plants to use?

When I was choosing plants for the new greenhouses, I was thinking about the schoolchildren of Providence – in terms of what they can or will be able to relate to when they visit. So I decided to use different kinds of fruit trees like citrus, bananas, there’s a coffee tree out back, pomegranate, and fig trees. Of course, there are our palm trees in the Conservatory, too. And I asked myself then, what about these palms can the children relate to? So, we have some with very good names like – the fishtail palm, and the fox tail palm, and the old man palm. So, that’s what I thought about as we were designing this environment.

Were you able to keep any of the plants from the old facility?

Keep in mind that the original green house was built in the 1960s, and yes, in fact, we have a 40-year old cactus that was replanted in the new greenhouse from the old greenhouse. About sixty percent of the plants in the new center are new but the rest of them are the bunch we rescued and replanted from the old greenhouse.

And what’s your favorite plant?

Oh god, do you have all day?! I think … Fragrant plants – nothing is better to me than fragrant plants. The Osmanthus fragrance fills the greenhouse with this citrus-like perfume smell. And I placed it right by the door to greet visitors.

Tell us about those groups who come and volunteer, or have been a part of this effort.

Our partner groups are so instrumental in shaping how this Center has evolved. They helped us understand what their needs were – both in educating the public and showcasing their plants. So they communicated to us their logistical needs for the space, and we took into consideration all the shows that they do, and adequate classroom space – both indoor and out – so that people can come in and study these specialty plants. And there are tons of people that attend these shows and they are all extremely excited about this project. Groups like the Rhode Island Orchid Society, the Rhode Island Carnivorous Plant Society, the Rose Society – which is the institute that has been taking care of the Park’s Victorian Rose Garden off Elmwood Avenue, the Rhode Island Wild Plant Society, the Rhode Island Nurserymen & Landscape Association - a group that will be involved in helping plant the outdoor gardens of the Center, the Hosta Society, the Bonsai Society, the Federation of Garden Clubs, and the Master Gardeners of the URI Cooperative Extension program.

We are partners with the URI Co-op Extension program and through this partnership, we have hired a Volunteer & Education Coordinator to facilitate the programs and the volunteers for the Center. This partnership will also allow us to bring a more scientific bent to the programs we will do, whereby we can bring in different experts throughout the year to conduct lectures and such for our visitors.

Is there anything else about the new center that people should know about?

In addition to the education and exhibit components of the Center, this space has also been designed to allow for groups to rent the facility, or parts of it for special events, weddings, etc. So, it’s rentable space that will bring in revenue to the City. The Conservatory will be available to rent in the near future, and we will also be having an event tent towards the entrance of the outside garden. The Center also has 6 new restroom facilities and a catering area for the events. There’s a gazebo adjacent to the event tent that is facing the lake on the water that could surely be used for a wedding ceremony. I think that’s going to be very popular.

We do have a Parks Department Event Coordinator who currently manages the rental of the casino and this person will also help coordinate events that may happen here at the Botanical Center. In fact, people are starting to book their events now.

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Providence City News: Interview with Adam Gertsacov, Director of Bright Night

From the City News interview series...

My City: Adam Gertsacov, Director of Bright Night

Adam Gertsacov adopted an almost dying New Year’s Eve tradition for Providence four years ago and together with teams of supporters and volunteers, scaled it down to a manageable degree, and turned it around into something bolder and brighter.

Billed as an “artist-run, arts-oriented New Year’s Eve Celebration,” Adam seems most fit to be at the helm of it all, because when he’s not busy being the jack-of-all-trades for the festival, he makes a living as a performer, a professional clown to be exact. But it seems that juggling is more than an art form for this professional, it’s also a very important skill to have when you’re leading the City’s best, brightest, and most talented performers for what is the first major event of every year.

In the midst of grabbing a quick bite, answering phone calls on his cell phone, doing a show in the morning, Adam takes a moment to talk to City News about the inner workings of Bright Night Providence.

Tell us about how the tradition of First Night evolved into Bright Night.

First Night, as an idea, started in Boston in 1985. It was designed as an alcohol-free event that celebrated the arts during the New Year. The next year, it started in Providence through a bunch of local artists getting together. Slowly, it became an organization with a half-a-million dollar annual budget. Around the millennium, in 2000, the organization was starting to experience some financial hardship and in 2003, there was discussion of shutting it down. Doris Stephens, then the director of First Night, called a group of artists together to talk about what could be done. Well, many of us didn’t want the City to go dark in the New Year – so we raised money and got support from the City and the State to make it happen. Around mid-September of 2003, I presented a scaled-down version of First Night at one the Mayor’s Night Out events. I was number three in line to see the Mayor (next after a taxicab driver), and the Mayor seemed very interested in the proposal. He recommended me to Paul Brooks and Cliff Wood, and eventually, we received a $25,000 donation from the City of Providence. From October 15 through December 21 of that year, we managed to raise $80,000 all together and were able to hire 125 performers to perform at 20 venues all over the City. Bright Night was born. At the last minute, after much work, we also managed to get fireworks. During that first year, nothing was burned down, no one was killed nor maimed, and we didn’t lose our shirts! We paid our artists more than what they were contracted for and I’m happy to say that everyone got a fair wage that year.

In your opinion, why is it important to keep this tradition going in the City of Providence? How do residents and tourists benefit from it?

Bright Night draws people from everywhere to see the festival. It’s excellent publicity for the City. Last year, the festival made it in the Wall Street Journal, and the fireworks were featured on CNN. Providence -- and Rhode Island -- has such a wealth of talent. It’s my job to create the best community festival possible.People are entertained, amazed, and delighted by what’s going on. The hotels, restaurants, and parking garages are full and people come down for that one night. Twenty-five years ago, Providence was desolate except for one night: First Night. But when you think about the fact that Waterfire was a project that grew out of First Night in 1994, you can really see the kind of impact this festival has on the City. Waterfire alone has really changed the face of Providence and has put it on the map.There’s a will in the City to make this happen – I wish I could say that it’s just me that gets it all done, but it’s not. It’s the City, the corporations, the volunteers, the artists – it takes all of these people to make this happen.

After four years of steering this event, you must be very excited as a professional clown to have a circus as the main act this year. Tell us about what’s in store for that show.

This year’s main act is an adaptation of some of the best national and international circus act superstars. One main act is usually chosen from out of state. We try to look for acts that appeal to families and adults. We’ve had great acts in the past, for example last year’s Passing Zone was featured in America’s Got Talent.But, I’ve always wanted to do a circus act. And a friend of mine from Ringling was doing Cirque Du Jour. We started talking and putting together names, and came up with a list. This year – we will have a Russian Quick-Change Act, a Tight Wire Act, a Clown named Adam Kuchler who just came back from Germany and does an amazing juggling performance with cigar boxes, and also a Contortionist.It’s a show that’s guaranteed to knock your socks off and if you’re not wearing socks, look out!

What’s your favorite part of the festival?

One of my favorite things is watching people watch the fireworks. Knowing that we are making 20,000 people happy all at once is gratifying. I also get to hire and work with some of Rhode Island’s best artists.

If you could remind audiences one or two things to do or not to do while they’re participating in Bright Night, what would it/they be?

Donate to Bright Night! But really, the most important thing is to have fun. It’s impossible to see everything, so just have a good time and don’t be afraid to see something you might not normally see because you might actually enjoy it.For example, one thing that is unique to Bright Night is the Matthewson Street Labyrinth. It’s a tradition where guests can walk around the labyrinth and meditate and think about what’s in store for them personally for the New Year. It’s a nice thing to go to away from noise and crowds.

What are you going to be meditating about?

My hope is that it doesn’t rain on New Year’s Eve! I would also say that I’m already thinking about how to make things bolder, brighter, and better for the next year.

Where do you see Bright Night going in the future?

I really try to create the largest festival I can afford. We guarantee admission to all of our shows at a 8,400 maximum capacity. I don’t want to see it grow much bigger, but to grow slowly in a way that makes sense and doesn’t risk everything. I’d also like to start an endowment so that Bright Night is guaranteed to take place forever.

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