GRAFTON – The Small Stones Festival of the Arts is returning to Grafton.
Small Stones is scheduled to open on Friday, Oct. 15 with a reception in the Great Hall in One Grafton Common to announce the winners of the festival’s juried fine art and photography exhibit.
The festival will then run through Sunday, Oct. 24, taking place in three locations — the Great Hall, the Congregational church of Grafton and Grafton Public Library.
This year’s Small Stones festival will feature several new programs.
Members of the Shakespeare Club of Grafton and Radio Active Theatre actors will perform excerpts from “Spoon River Anthology,” which is based on the poems of Edgar Lee Masters on Saturday, Oct. 16, at 2 and 7 p.m. at the library.
Author Nicholas Basbanes and his daughter Barbara Basbanes Richter, who is an educator and journalist, will discuss their recent books on Friday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. in the library. The two are both Grafton residents.
Assumption University Professor Daniel Mahoney will lead a discussion entitled, “‘A Boot Stamping on a Human Face — Forever:’ Orwell on Truth, Tyranny and Human Nature” on Saturday, Oct. 23, at 3 p.m. at the library. His talk will focus mainly on George Orwell’s “1984.”
For a full schedule of this year’s events, visit https://smallstonesfestival.org/year-2021.
Gazebo-Palooza ‘benefit bash’ Oct. 2
Prior to the festival itself, a number of area restaurants will provide sample food at Gazebo-Palooza, a “benefit bash” to benefit the Small Stones Festival.
That event will take place on Saturday, Oct. 2 from 12 to 6 p.m. behind the Old Town House at One Grafton Common in town.
Father and son team Josh and Nate Briggs will emcee. Live music will play all day on the Old Town House rear patio, where guests can sample food, enjoy a beverage, and stroll silent auction items donated by a number of local businesses.
“Be sure to brush up on your Grafton trivia because more than $1000 in gift cards donated by our restaurant partners will be given away,” a press release noted.
Admission is $15 a person. Children 10 and under are free with an adult.
Organizers thanked sponsors Anytime Fitness, Gaudette Insurance Agency, Highfields Golf and Country Club, Homefield Credit Union, JCSI, Jubilee Chocolate, Roney Funeral Home, Mathieu Newton Sotheby’s International Realty, Theroux Dentistry Associates, Touchstone Crystal, and The Town House Tavern in their press release.
