Andover’s performance halls are now filled with music and dance. Thousands attend large events such as the revived annual Andover Day festivities. And new town events are flourishing this year for those who love movies, music and pooches.
Five years after the pandemic lockdown, Andover’s town events are seeing a resurgence as the world has slowly returned to normal. While some traditions faded or evolved, new events have emerged, shaping the town’s post-pandemic event landscape.
“We’ve never done downtown movies. We’re renting a 24-foot LED screen,’’ said Paul Salafia, chairman of Andover Chamber of Commerce, who is leading an in-person revival in town. “Right behind Old Town Hall in downtown Andover, there’s a whole program area there, where we will put chairs and have food trucks.”
While that is good news for residents, participation at some long-running Andover events is still not a peak level, according to organizers.
This story was published as part of a collaboration between Andover News and the Department of Journalism in Boston University’s College of Communication. The student journalist is a member of Professor Meghan E. Irons’s Reporting in Depth class.
Richard Rainville, a board member of Run for the Troops, a nonprofit organization that supports members of the military, said he’d like to see even larger crowds at events such as the Run for the Troops 5K. While the race attracted more than 1,200 people last year, that is considerably smaller than the crowds that gathered before the pandemic.
To increase participation, Rainville suggested there needs to be more awareness through social media.
“Get the word out because everyone’s in their own little world,” Rainville said.
“I’m hoping this year, with some of the activities, the movies in the park, along with some of the events that (the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee) is sponsoring, that we do increase the visibility and we get more people out there” for Andover social events, Rainville said.
The events sponsored by the town’s DEI Committee are educational and informative series regarding LGBTQ+ books, short films, and authors.
The overall town-events revival has been years in the making. Immediately after the lockdown, town officials tried to bring the community back together, they said. They hired a few musical bands to perform and create an ambiance on Thursday evenings at Old Town Hall.
Ann Ormond, the town’s director of business arts and cultural development, said she returned to her office full-time in August of 2020 and dreamed up the idea for an “Andover’s Back” campaign.
”We’re open for business. Come see us,’’ she recalled recently while in her office filled with colorful artwork.
Ormond said town leaders began holding small gatherings and meetings in 2020 and slowly progressed to more significant events.
In 2023, more than 2,000 people showed up to vote during an Annual Town Meeting, said Austin Simko, Andover’s deputy town manager and town clerk. “At least people are engaged and are comfortable coming together and voting as Andover residents,” Simko said.
Not everything rebounded. Andover Day, a popular town event hosted previously by the Andover Business Center Association, was paused for two years during the lockdown. The host organization never regrouped. The Andover Chamber of Commerce took over and has been hosting the event for the past three years.
“The Chamber of Commerce’s mission is all about business and all about community. So we kind of took up that mantle and said, ‘Well, if no one else does it, we’re going to have to,’” Salafia said.
The chamber hosted its first Andover Day in September 2022.
“We rented 200 tents from a vendor that had previously (worked the event), we found out who (it) was, and we just put out the word and tried to get as many other people to come,” Salafia said.
The event has become a huge success again, attracting between 10,000 to 15,000 people to Main Street, Salafia said. To prepare for the coming years, the chamber has started buying tents to reduce rental costs. They now own all the tents and have 225 vendors.
Still, some residents said they missed some of the activities that are no longer offered during Andover Day.
“In the past, they used to have more things for children, like rides.” said Ana Shields, middle school teacher.
She said people were less involved in town events a couple of years ago, but now they are coming back.
Salafia said that since the Chamber of Commerce took over, Andover Day has become the town’s “biggest event” and that it is growing “year by year into a very successful event.”
Simko also said attendance at town events like Andover Day has been “as strong as ever, if not stronger.”
“People are really clamoring for that human connection,” added Paul Materazzo, the town’s director of planning and land use.
Besides Andover Day, multiple events have returned since the pandemic lockdown, such as Holiday Happenings, Crafts in the Park, the Step Up for Colleen road race, the Andona carnival Clown Town, and Sidney’s Rainbow Day, Ormond said.
However, Ormond said events such as Arts in the Park did not return.
Andover Cares, which provided support and services for substance users, hasn’t returned to its previous level of involvement. It used to host fund-raising events for its prevention and education services. It hosted an event called Superstar Server at the Lanham Club just a few days before the lockdown. The event featured prominent town figures inviting people to dinner and serving them.
Salafia said officials are in talks about reviving the foundation this year. With some residual money, they plan to support some of the previous programs.
Simko said he believes residents desire to attend or participate in more town events, such as road races, antique shows, and farmers’ markets.
“The good news is that there’s an appetite for the community to engage with itself, which has only increased after COVID,” Simko said.
Multiple events will be inaugurated this year to fulfill people’s demands, including Downtown Music and a second year of Pizza, Pooches, Puppies, and Pints.
Salafia said he goes to every town event he can because he enjoys them.
“I think it builds a hometown feel when you can have families come down and enjoy their community,” Salafia said.