Music and arts celebrated in the heart of Lakeville
An historic re-enactor greets the audience. Photo by Benjamin Martins 
Children enjoy a game of Connect Four. Photo by Benjamin Martins 
Lakeville Lions Club members promote the work of their organization. Photo by Benjamin Martins 
The festival offered an array of arts, crafts and music. Photo by Benjamin Martins 
Visitors learned about the upcoming Snowperson Jubilee to support the Lakeville Animal Shelter. Submitted photo
An historic re-enactor greets the audience. Photo by Benjamin Martins
Children enjoy a game of Connect Four. Photo by Benjamin Martins
Lakeville Lions Club members promote the work of their organization. Photo by Benjamin Martins
The festival offered an array of arts, crafts and music. Photo by Benjamin Martins
Visitors learned about the upcoming Snowperson Jubilee to support the Lakeville Animal Shelter. Submitted photo
LAKEVILLE - One sign that fall is here is the changing of the leaves but for the residents of Lakeville, another thing you can count on for 21 years is the Lakeville Arts and Music Festival.
The event, held Saturday, Oct. 3, is sponsored by the Lakeville Arts Council.
Joanne Corrieri Upham, the Lakeville Arts Council Chair, explained, “We are all about community and trying to get the community involved… We have all kinds of things for families to do together.”
While the event is a celebration of the local community, outside visitors are just as common. One such visitor is Peter Guilday who tended a booth selling hand-crafted stained glass made by him and his wife, Patricia Guilday.
Peter Guilday has been traveling to the festival from Walpole for five years and explained, “It is very social, everyone seems to know each other.”
Not only does the festival provide artists an opportunity to sell their work but it also gives local organizations a chance to spread awareness.
Organizations like the Lakeville Lions Club see the festival as an opportunity to give back to the community. The group is a community service non-profit who had a table with a bonfire that offered free s’mores.
Chris Plonka, president of the Lions Club, explained that the club's priority is to raise funds for preventable blindness. But when they aren’t raising funds, they’re volunteering in the community.
“The Lions Club motto is ‘We Serve’... We do this every year for Lakeville Arts and Music..''
He said the club has been participating for at least 13 years. "We have fantastic support from the community, this is a way for us to give back to the community.”
Local organizations not only seek to entertain the community, but to educate. The booth run by the Lakeville Historical Museum displayed local historical items such as maps, books, and throw blankets.
Gerry Taylor, the museum's curator, said that "the festival enlightens people of the town that you grew up in or are living in now and maybe even neighboring towns… we just want to educate people on the history of Lakeville.”
