Peabody's Last Week of October Runs Through Places the City Chose to Keep

On Oct. 1, regulars walked back into 67 Main St. for lattes and conversation. The cafe there had been closed for two months. Peabody Weekly News described familiar faces "settling back into old routines" at Downtown Grounds, which opened in the space Breaking Grounds had left.

That reopening fits the rest of Peabody's calendar for the final week of October. Fall Fest on Saturday, Oct. 24, is at a farm the city has owned for 50 years. Nightmare on Main Street fills the downtown blocks on Wednesday, Oct. 28. On Thursday, Oct. 29, a nonprofit studio at 81 Main St. marks 20 years of filming the city for its own residents. None of these events or places runs on its own momentum. At some point, a mayor, a council member or a group of residents decided each one was worth keeping, and this week all of them are on the calendar together.

Saturday starts on 275 acres residents saved

Fall Fest runs at Brooksby Farm, 54 Felton St., on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Peabody Recreation is the organizer, and the listing promises food, vendors and entertainment.

In June, Itemlive covered the 50th anniversary of the farm being owned and operated by Peabody. It reported that generations of families gathered to mark the decision, made after residents rallied against development, that preserved 275 acres of farmland, trails and orchards. This Fall Fest is the first one since that anniversary.

The farm is still in its harvest season. Brooksby Farm lists apple picking, cider donuts and cider, a maze, pumpkins, mums, decor and the farm store for September and October. Saturday is one of the last weekends to see the farm in that mode before the calendar changes.

Wednesday, downtown hands out the candy

Four days later, the action moves from Felton Street to the city center. Patch reported that Nightmare on Main Street runs Wednesday, Oct. 28, from 4 to 6 p.m., with families trick-or-treating at participating businesses. City officials told Patch the annual event draws thousands of children and family members.

The route covers the Main Street businesses, City Hall and the Lowell Street Fire Station. Granite Coast Brewing at 77B Main St. lists the event on its own calendar and describes it as free trick-or-treating "at Main Street businesses to the Lowell Street Fire Station," open to all ages. Peabody Recreation's program page sends anyone looking for updates to the Peabody Main Streets Facebook page. The Peabody Chamber's Business Boo Bash at the Knights of Columbus Hall is a separate event, so if you're juggling both, plan them as two outings.

The city hosts the event, but most of its stops are businesses. That makes the state of the storefronts part of the story, and one Main Street address changed hands this fall.

The counter at 67 Main St. kept its purpose under a new name

Downtown Grounds is on Main Street, and its story is the clearest example of the pattern running through this week. According to Peabody Weekly News, Northeast Arc ran Breaking Grounds in that space for nearly a decade. The cafe offered job training for adults with disabilities and became a well-loved gathering place before it closed at the end of July.

Councilor-at-Large Jaclyn Corriveau took over the space and reopened it on Oct. 1. The paper reports that she plans to partner with nonprofits so the cafe can keep providing employment training for people with disabilities. She described the approach to Peabody Weekly News this way:

"I've been talking to a lot of nonprofits, and I think multiple of them will come into play … to support individuals and adults with disabilities gain the job skills that they need to be independent."

The same article says she has been in touch with nonprofits focused on physical limitations, such as deafness and blindness, and with others focused on cognitive impairment. The menu and the regulars came back on day one. The training mission is the part the new operator says she intends to rebuild.

Thursday at 81 Main St., twenty years of the city filming itself

A few doors down, Peabody TV celebrates its 20th anniversary on Thursday, Oct. 29, starting at 5:30 p.m. at 81 Main St. The city calendar links to an RSVP page for the evening.

The studio's history tells the same kind of story as Brooksby's. According to Peabody TV's own account, cable television came to Peabody in October 1980 under Mayor Peter Torigian. Twenty-five years later, Mayor Michael Bonfanti authorized Comcast to fund a nonprofit to serve public, educational and governmental access users, and that nonprofit became Peabody TV. In June 2017, Mayor Edward Bettencourt signed a new ten-year cable license that significantly increased the station's funding.

Legally, the organization is Peabody Access Telecommunications, Inc., a 501(c)(3) funded by revenue from cable television franchise fees. Its stated mission is to give the community the space and tools to "transform thoughts and ideas into publicly available media." As with the farm, the studio exists because a city decision created it and a later decision kept it funded.

The anniversary also caps a short run of Main Street addresses. Downtown Grounds is at 67 Main St., Granite Coast Brewing at 77B, Peabody TV at 81 and the Peabody Institute Library's Main Library at 82, all on the same street as the trick-or-treat route.

The three dates on one page

The farm and the studio both trace back to public decisions, made 50 years ago for one and 20 for the other. The cafe's decision is only weeks old.

After Halloween, the same addresses switch seasons

Once October ends, Brooksby Farm moves into its November and December lineup. The farm lists holiday pies, cider and donuts, kissing balls, Christmas trees, planters, wreaths, pine and gifts at the farm store. On Main Street, the Peabody Institute Library at 82 Main St. hosts a Greater Salem Ballet Company Nutcracker reading for children and families on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 3 to 4 p.m.

If you're thinking about what owning near Main Street or Felton Street would cost each month, and how your mortgage and taxes fit into that, Juan Concepcion can work through the figures with you in English or Spanish. Schedule a consultation.