Pawtucket Falls, Lowell, MA
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Category: Lowell, MA
Vandenberg Esplanade
Heritage State Park, Lowell, MA
Sampas Pavilion
The Vandenberg Esplanade is a paved trail on the banks of Merrimack River, Lowell, MA only a mile long, or may be slightly more than a mile, because of the loop it forms around the Sampas Pavilion. It was named after the prominent Republican member, Hoyt Vandenberg, of the US senate. His family moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1910 and Hoyt participated in high school sports, with also with an avid interest in Scouting. He ultimately became an Eagle Scout. He attended the Moody Grammar School and graduated from Lowell High School Class of 1917. The Vandenberg Esplanade by the Merrimack River in Lowell was dedicated to him in 1977 by Gov.Dukakis.
The most important feature of Vandenberg Esplanade is Sampas Pavilion, an outdoor amphitheater in our neighborhood, Pawtucketville, Lowell, Massachusetts and is part of Lowell Heritage State Park. It has a seating capacity of approximately 1000 with benches all around the loop for people to sit and enjoy performances, such as music concert, and dances and shows performed by the kids every Thursday evening. It has also been in use since 1970s for various ethnic festivals, fourth of July fireworks for the city, and motorcycle rallies every Tuesday weekly. Unfortunately, all that activities have been on hold since Covid hit in 2020 and still have not been fully resumed, although some very important and lively events have been taking hold slowly.
The motorcycle rally was a gathering of motorcycle enthusiast. They called it Two Wheel Tuesdays. They held exciting shows, and the event was attended, literally, by hundreds of people with or without motorcycles. They enjoyed the opportunity to meet fellow riders, attend amazing display of bikes, demonstration, and get information about the sponsors and vendors. This event had a $3/- admission per person.
The Heritage Farm ice cream Restaurant across the street from the pavilion made people with family and kids smile with great ice cream and great food. They played a large part in supporting innumerable activities throughout the summer, and according to one of the park attendant Bob Howard, the owner of the Heritage ice cream sponsored benches for the performances which offered entertainment not only for the Lowell residents, but also those who came from many surrounding areas. It was a great business success for the owner. But unfortunately, he retired. The following video is about Bob Howard’s legacy in his own words.
The new owners are still in the process of construction before opening. I wish them the same success.
The ethnic Festivals held at Sampas Pavilion bring Lowell residents an incredible opportunity of exposure to world culture and the cuisine. We have attended Cambodian, Puerto Rican, Indian, and even Gambian, West African festivals.
The Gambian festival was an incredible thrill as we were able to meet and connect with members of the Gambian diaspora in Lowell at a personal level as we had a tincture of their culture, and knowledge and taste of their amazing food by living in the Gambia, West Africa for four years from August 1972 through August 1976. My husband was posted to the Gambia as an OB- GYN consultant through the United Kingdom’s Overseas Development Program.
This year the summer activities were kicked off on March 11, 2024, and hundreds of people lined the banks of the Merrimack River along Pawtucket Boulevard for the crew club championship races. A busy atmosphere engulfed the bank of the river as boats cruised up and down the river, as others enjoyed the meal they prepared for their respective races. There were people sitting on the benches, there were entertainer playing their instruments for the crowds.
.There was also an all-day affair of Indian Festival which came to the Sampas Pavilion on Sunday, June 16, 24. Crowd were spilling out in incredible numbers. All the stalls ranged from authentic Indian food from area restaurants. There was an ample choice of things to buy ranging from clothes to jewelry, and more. The affair went on until 5 pm. But the rules are that they have to leave the place very clean, so an hour of cleaning time was allowed for them to be there until 6 pm.
Walking the Merrimack River in Lowell, MA
Why I Love the Family Walks along the Merrimack River
Family walks in Lowell, MA
Lowell Riverwalk is a moderate to highly trafficked walking trail in the city of Lowell, MA. It is open year-round and offers excellent views of the Merrimack River and historic mill buildings. Several small bridges cross over several canals that empty into the Merrimack River. The trail passes behind LeLacheur Park and is part of the UMass Lowell Campus.
On line information:
We moved to Lowell in September 1986. I have enjoyed living here all these years.At this point when my passage to old age determines that I must limit my travel and travel blogging to somewhere close to home. I realized that we are sitting on the hub of haven for globe trotters. Lowell was declared a National Park in the 80’s, and a wealth of information is available about the city, and its surroundings: how it became a National Park and received Federal government’s attention; and why some of its areas came under State’s protection and became State parks.
One of the most important resource we have utilized over the years is the walking path called ‘Family walks’ in Lowell for years without really exploring the area that has given us health and happiness for almost last 40 years.
I always looked after my health by watching what I eat, being physically active, and getting plenty of rest. My focus has always been Yoga and daily walks, as I mentioned earlier, on the path called “family walks” along Merrimack River’s north bank.
After I retired from transitional Spanish bilingual teaching position in Lowell, we started traveling as was planned. I loved the experiences, I took notes and planned on writing killer article about my travels. As usual I had writer’s block and found excuses to postpone the process. Anyway, at last in 2016 , I started a blog and called it Rasheeda’s Travel and Food Blog as I had also been an avid recipe writer, recipe collector and considered myself a chef quality home cook. I looked at having some experts make the site for me, but their off the chart price quotes were simply not affordable. I decided to do it with the help of YouTube channel and all the on line help I could find. My perseverance, determination to succeed, and hard work paid off and I had my site up and running. I can’t boast as being totally technologically savvy, but I found enough help in this world of computer internet technology to step- by- step design, set up, and run my website. I signed up with a hosting platform called Hostgator.com. the process was simple, and my Domain name became rasheedablogs.org.
Since then, I posted several travel experiences as well as many of my favorite recipes under the menu section called Food Blog. As it happens, I was way too full of myself about making my own website and managing it successfully. But my enthusiasm along with our travels took a huge dive because of the Pandemic, and my blog went sort of dormant. There was no fresh travel information to indulge and enjoy writing about. I was afraid that if I stop writing, it might sap my energy or even my sanity
When I first started, I used to do two rounds or more to make it three miles walk which I completed within an hour. At that time, I walked about 17 minutes a mile. Now my reduced speed makes it 23 minutes or even more per mile depending on what kind of day I am having, I still do almost an hour’s walk by only completing just over 2 miles and I am very happy with it. I always feel lucky to be able to walk along this beautiful, shimmering, fast flowing river. Chatter of people, the dog walkers in front or behind, skaters, bicyclist calling from behind to warn you by saying, coming on the left etc., kids giggling, looking at me curiously, may be thinking that I am looking and judging them. Kids chasing their siblings on foot, on bicycles, and on skates or however else they chose is a life giving joy to me. My grandson, Mohsin, when he was little was my joy on walks. when I had him with me, he had a great time feeding the ducks, going fast on his bicycle, insisted on crossing the road at the traffic lights on the way. He would stand there and would want to do it several time by waiting for red light to cross and do it over and over again, and yet another time. He kept saying, can we do It again? Believe me I had the patience for everything he asked for any number of times.
This wide, shimmering, pristine waters with people fishing, motor boats, and jet skis, creating Caribbean feeling, free weekly river cruise boats waiting for those who were ready to board is an amazing resource even for people like me who use it selectively but scarcely.Yet there are those who use its full potential for everything it has to offer. To the young students who come to Umass to study from all over the country, and all over the world, the Merrimack River offers amazing opportunities for their enjoyment.
To people like me it offers exclusive space, to relax and enjoy life in pursuit of health, sanity, and overall wellbeing. When I park my car, I walk towards the Roark Bridge, which is on the opposite side of the designated walking trail, and not included in the recommended range in terms of the distance with added benefit that it rounds off 1.5 miles of the walk to 2 miles.
I made a lot of friends or, I should say acquaintances, through the years I have been walking.
When I started walking regularly after the last winter, I noticed something interesting. There is a great deal of Bank erosion along the western part of the walk. There had been a lot of rain, wind, and bad weather throughout the winter month, although significantly less snow compared to what we normally used to get.
Erosion is a geological process in which part of the riverbanks are worn away and transported to other area. The images below show parts of the Merrimack River North bank torn away along with their vegetation and bare trees and floating indolently.
Turning around to go back toward Sampas Pavilion, you see people with their children feeding mallard ducks, pigeons, and variety of bird, while there is an occasional small groups fishing. In the summertime all along the walk you see people walking, jogging, running, skating, bicycling, fishing, swimming, picnicking, and relaxing.
The Family walk ends at Sampas Pavillion, an amphitheater, where you can turn around and walk back to complete the round trip to the Bellegarde Boathouse parking lot and head back home.
Lowell Folk Festival
The 37th Lowell Folk Festival has returned to Mill City. Although the event kicked off on Friday evening and there was parade of Naions from City Hall to Boarding House Park.
The parade was planned through the Kirk and French streets culminating at the Boarding House park Stage. A throng of attendees, received a warm welcome by the Mayor Daniel Roark, while state Representative Vanna Howard took the stage to introduce the participating countries.
Every year in anticipation of this amazing event Downtown Lowell starts buzzing hours hi before the start of the parade. Festival enthusiasts bring their chairs and blanket and seriously secure prime spots at the Boarding House Park.
We have attended our first Festival in 1987 and this event have us going back year after year ever since.
Lowell Folk Festival, 2024 offered a wide variety of spectacular performances ranging from Indian Kathak by Farah Yasmeen, Native Pride Dancers, to a global variety of performances for everyone to enjoy.
Farah Yasmeen is an internationally acclaimed performer. She is an amazing dancer, coreographer and instructor. She performs with her diverse touring ensemble which includes Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh performers dedicated to carrying out the revered tradition of the kathak dance.
Click the link below to see the dance. The highlight for me was the part that a little girl, seen in the video, from the audience left her parents’ side, and mimicked the entire performance of the dancer. It was absolutely delightful.
I entered the first day of the Folk Festival from the Market street side to find Farah Yasmeen peforming on the Market Street stage. Since I went to a Hindu college for my Undergrad, I had attended and took part in many annual events that celebrated creativity in its forms. Kathak used to be one of the major part of the music and Dance event. But I never heard of a muslim girl taking part in that particular performance genre. Farah grew up in a Pakistani immigrant family in Salinas, California. She was offered an opportunity to enroll in a course by legendary kathak dance master pandit Chitresh Das. She studied under him for two decades and became an internationally known artist. I was gloating about my luck to be able to see the kathak performance while walking around to explore more of what was there for me to ingest, I realized that I had to go back and watch the up-coming act on the same stage by Native dancers. Here is a video of the performance that I watched which I never could have had an opportunity to see. It was a unique experience.
The powwow dance tradition can be traced back to the religious ceremonies and warrior dances performed by plains Indian tribes before the mid-19th century.
The food and performances were spectacular. Evey year we find great variety of performances where everyone has a great time dancing, listening to music and watching in awe all that is offered.
Gatherings similar to powwows existed in most native communities long before the advent of European settlement. Dances were usually associated with one of four occasions: religious ceremonies, homecoming celebrations honouring successful war parties, celebrations of new or reaffirmed alliances, and events sponsored by various warrior societies or extended family groups. One major difference between old-time events and modern powwows is that the latter are intertribal and inclusive, meaning that they are open to all who wish to attend, whereas pre-contact events allowed only tribal members and those from friendly neighbouring tribes on the dance grounds
When you enter the Festival area, there are four stages: Boarding House park, Dance Pavilion, Market Street Stage, and Saint Ann’s Churchyard where a full weekend schedule of spontaneous performances were featured tranforming the lowell downtown to a living theater.
I am having a hard time offering even a glimplse of what joy I experienced being part of the Lowell Folk Festival. Innumereble global food stalls line-up along the streets offered mouth- watering array of food choice for the food lovers. I talked to some people who said that they would never dream of missing the food choices and fun of eating at this, jubilant, open-air venue where we also enjoy yummy international cuisines for years. This year our choice had been Greek Mezzes, lebanese kibbes, Columbian empanadas, and Cameronian grilled fish which was delicious. There were many more global delicacies to die for. Every one should take the time to vistit the Lowell Festival at least on one of the three-day weekend celebration.
I am excited to inform everyone about this incredible treat we are offered every year on the final weekend of July. Although my attempt might be a sliver of the what goes on through out the weekend, but it will definitely shine a light on the tradition of folk music, food, and crafts which city of Lowell brings to our doorstep from world over. I am always grateful for the ultimate enjoyment, and education that develops an understanding of other cultures, and helps you have meaningful interactions with those around you.
