On Saturday, Oct. 1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council (WRWC) will be hosting a Cricket Field Carnival at 1 Riverside Ave. in Johnston as part of the Rhode Island Foundation's Centennial Community Grant Program. The
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On Saturday, Oct. 1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council (WRWC) will be hosting a Cricket Field Carnival at 1 Riverside Ave. in Johnston as part of the Rhode Island Foundation’s Centennial Community Grant Program.
The carnival honors the past, when Joseph Benn & Sons occupied the Greystone Mill in 1904. They imported much of their workforce from England’s already seasoned mill workers. Unlike many mills during the time, they believed that a happy worker was a productive worker and did a lot to make their workers feel comfortable in America.
The mill workers started the Greystone Social Club, the social center of the village. They held weekly dances, cricket games, canoe and swim races, and choral, craft and library groups. In the winter months, they played ice polo on the Woonasquatucket River.
The Cricket Field Carnival will give a nod to the past with actors strolling the grounds in period costumes and St. Columba’s Cricket Club dressed in their traditional “whites” providing cricket demonstration and games. The Johnston Historical Society will lead historic village tours. There will be canoe rides and races, a pie eating contest, a period costume photo booth, a Penny Farthing antique bike demonstration, spinning demonstrations from the RI Spinners Guild, and traditional woodworking demonstrations by Anew Vernacular.
To round out the festivities, there will be live jazz by Antonio Forte Trio, BBQ by Ocean State BBQ, pony rides, a petting zoo, free bike rides from Sol Chariot Pedi Cabs, sack races, prizes, a giant pumpkin display, pumpkin painting by Jacavone’s Garden Center, face painting, and Henna Tattoos. Admission, games and many of the rides are free.
The WRWC’s goal is to eventually bring the Woonasquatucket Greenway (bike path) right through Cricket Field reconnecting the mill villages along the former Providence and Springfield Rail Line. The bike path will eventually connect to Burrillville’s existing path and the Blackstone National Park by on and off road links. The Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council’s mission is to encourage, support and promote the restoration and preservation of the Woonasquatucket River Watershed as an environmental, recreational, cultural, and economic asset of the state of Rhode Island.
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