Back In The Day – "Summering" In Easton

I think I was in fifth grade.  Back then, fifth and sixth graders in Easton who went to public school here in town attended what was then the .  It was located in the big yellow brick building across from the Rockery, the School House Apartments are now.

It was near the end of the school year, and our teacher – it would have been Ms. Heath – asked us what our plans were for the summer.  I thought it interesting that John Ames – yes, he of the Ames family (John would head off to Milton Academy after finishing sixth grade in the Easton school system) – said that he would be in Easton for the summer, and would not be venturing far beyond his yard.

I found that interesting, and instructive.  I mean, the Ames family had considerable means – and yet John would be hanging right here in the Shovel Town all summer.

This was all part of my introduction to thrifty and flinty Blue Bloods.

Growing up, my family almost always went on vacation during the summer – of up to two weeks; those weeks would be consecutive, or split up.  We didn’t go on exotic vacations – not that we had the money to.   We stayed in the U.S. Northeast, mostly New England – but I remember a trip to the Poconos.  Then there was the thrilling vacation in the summer of 1976 when we went to Montreal to attend the Olympic Games, where the family took in almost the entire track and field competition.

Then again, I got to thinking – through the years, during the summer, I had a lot of fun in Easton.   You could stay occupied here from the end of the third week in June, when school let out, until Labor Day.

(Back even before my time, kids in Easton relied far more on “in town” recreation during the summer than we did.  It was a matter of economics.  To wit: on the 50th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, I wrote a story on what Easton was like in 1941.  I talked to Clyde Craig, an Easton native, who served in Europe during the war.  He told me that for several years in a row, during the summer, he and his friends did not venture once to Cape Cod.)

Throughout most of the 1970s, the majority of my summer was spent at where my dad and his business partners ran sports camps. Many kids from Easton attended the camps. Others worked at them. 

But there was so much else going on for me and all the young people in town. 

We had the Park Program – a day camp run by the Easton Recreation Department – which was held, simultaneously, at , and Unionville and Center School Playgrounds. It was a blast, the program, with its activities, including kickball, foursquare, baseball, bike races, running races, arts & crafts, hoops, Wiffle Ball, and field trips to amusement parks and other places. 

It’s funny – when I talk about the Park Program and its arts & crafts segment, people remember the gimp – that plastic lace which we weaved into lanyards and animal and other designs.

And every summer, Paul Mitrano, who owned a car dealership on Main Street in downtown Easton (people joked about "downtown Easton, saying, "Don't blink or you'll miss it"), would pay for and organize a day at a Red Sox game for Easton kids. Mr. Mitrano bought the tickets and provided the bus transportation. 

One year in the early 1990s, my brother resurrected the Red Sox trip.  He did what Paul Mitrano did:  purchase the tickets for hundreds of kids and provide the bus transportation. 

We had the Town Pool which was all about fun.  But, oh, how I dreaded those early morning swim lessons at the pool for which my parents signed me up.  Man, the water was cold in the morning.  Back then, the Easton Recreation Department ran a fairly big program of swim lessons.  It also ran a swim meet at the pool. 

Actually, near the end of the summer the Park Program held a track & field meet at Frothingham Park. 

As I have written in this space before, between the Park Program, and the Town Pool, the Easton Rec Department had all us kids’ days taken care of. 

I loved Wheaton Farm Day Camp. We would rendezvous in the morning at the Wheaton Farm barn on Bay Road. That would be our base for the day. Under the guidance of counselors, we explored the woods and learned about wildlife, and built an appreciation for nature. We sang songs and played games.

I am happy that today the of Easton runs its own summer nature day camp at Sheep Pasture. 

Various churches in town ran summer Bible camps (as they do today). I attended a Bible camp that the Congregational Church on Main Street ran.  That I was a Catholic seemed not to be a concern for my parents, or those running the camp.  Protestants and Catholics, Christians all – and all worshipers of the God of Abraham. 

We liked to watch the Easton Huskies weekday twilight and Saturday and Sunday afternoon games at Frothingham Park.  (You can still watch the Huskies today at Frothingham; they play at the park on the Buddy Wooster Field.)

Then again, during the 1970s and early 1980s, during the summer, Frothingham Park was a maelstrom of human activity – organized and improvised – from mid-morning until sundown. 

From the 1960s through the early 1990s, if you wanted to “run” in a pickup hoops game during a summer evening, there was only one place in town to find it – that would be Frothingham Park.  It was competitive.  Yes, and it was all guys.  The games were energetic, emotional, and hard played. 

 has long had top-notch basketball teams – and the games would involve present and former Tiger players, with some of the former players playing or having played in the college ranks.  In the mix, as well, were hard-nosed Easton guys who weren’t necessarily the most talented in hoops, but who were as ferociously competitive as they come.

Starting in the mid 1980s, the court at the Unionville Playground became a venue where you could also find a good game – and those games would often be a multi-community affair, with players coming in from Stoughton, Brockton, and other places to run with the Easton guys.

In the 1980s, the Easton Recreation Department launched its popular early evening concerts at Frothingham Park. They have continued through the years, with the Easton Lions Club taking over some of the sponsorship.

The Brockton Fair was always an early summer treat.  It had rides and games and freak shows. It also had fireworks. We didn’t have an organized fireworks event in Easton (although a lot of stuff got blown up in town – but that will be the focus of another column), and the fireworks at the Brockton Fair was where many of us satisfied our thirst for pyrotechnics.

In terms of “outdoor” eats and treats, we had Maplewood where you could walk up to outdoor counter and order ice cream, and go back to eat in your car in the parking lot, or sit at the picnic benches nearby.  We even had a “car hop” – where you could get burgers, fries, sandwiches, and soda; it was called Dog ‘N Suds (part of a chain), and it was located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Belmont St./Rte. 123 and Washington St./Rte. 138.  

At the end of the summer, we had the Labor Day festival on the Villa Rosa picnic grounds, located off of Washington Street, in the woods across the street from Dog ‘N Suds.  It was three days of community fun:  games, food, drink (beer for the adults), and mingling, talking, and chuckling. 

Not high tech or highly organized or highbrow we were during the summer months. 

But we managed to smile and laugh a lot – and have a lot of fun.