One Bookend of Summer in Reading Will Arrive A Week Earlier Than Usual

Friends, families and, later, fireworks: the ninth annual Reading Friends and Family Day, sponsored by the Reading Lions Club, is coming up on June 16.

It’s a week earlier than usual, according to Nancy Jenney, who has overseen the event since it started, because school students didn't use snow days this winter. School will end for the school year on June 15.

Registration for a booth has been extended to 4 p.m. today, Monday, June 4, Jenney told Patch. Registration is $25; a donation of $10 is suggested for non-profit organizations.

Events between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. at Birch Meadow field area are intended to give residents the opportunity to learn about local organizations, town government and businesses, according to the event website, and have fun.

Among the activities, according to Jenney, are a “monkey bridge” made of rope by the Boy Scouts; a trackless train ride, mini-car racing and a jumpy castle.

As for food, there will be sausage, pizza and cotton candy.

A number of organizations will perform, including the Marching Band and Color Guard.

A BMW will be raffled off by one organization, she noted. So will a bicycle and new windows and doors.

“Businesses are very welcome to promote services,” according to the event flyer, “but no for-profit selling is allowed.”

At 9 p.m., in a separate but related event, after two hours of entertainment, the Friends of Reading Recreation and the Recreation Department will again sponsor fireworks. Donations are welcome to help defray the $10,000 cost. Contact Recreation Administrator John Feudo at either jfeudo@ci.reading.ma.us or 781-942-9075.

Dominic Rotondi started Friends and Family Day because, Jenney said, he thought it would be a neat thing to do, a good idea.

Time has proved him right. The first year, 37 organizations participated, she said, on an inauspicious day that was cold and rainy, even with a dash of snow. Last year, the number was close to 90.

For more information, check the website or call Jenney at 781-942-1059 or email her at jenney@comcast.net.

Summer “opens” with Friends and Family Day.  It “closes” with the downtown Reading Street Faire in September. Volunteers are needed for the Fall Street Faire Committee -- three members for three-year terms, appointed by the Board of Selectmen -- and people who want to volunteer less formally. Applications for the committee are available online and at the town clerk’s office.