4/7/2021
Outdoor concert series to return to Woonsocket this summer
Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience appear at the Levitt AMP summer music series in 2019. Organizers say the outdoor concert series will return, with some changes, to River Island Art Park this year. (Breeze photo by Charles Lawrence)
WOONSOCKET – After a year on hiatus due to the pandemic, the Levitt AMP summer concert series is set to return to River Island Art Park this summer.
Meghan Rego, director of resource development and communications for NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, said the 10-week concert series is scheduled to begin on Friday, July 9, and continue through Friday, Sept. 17, with the exception of Labor Day weekend. As in past years, the series will be free, and attendees are invited to bring their own chairs and blankets to enjoy the event.
12/30/2020
Local activists on the fight for racial justice: ‘We’re not done yet’
Isaiah Figueroa, left, and Dewayne Hill, both from Woonsocket, marched in a youth-led Black Lives Matter protest in Woonsocket in June. (Breeze File photo by Lauren clem)
WOONSOCKET – While much of the focus of 2020 was on the COVID-19 pandemic, events of this past spring threw another kind of national crisis into the spotlight.
In May, the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer set off a national reckoning over race and use of force that spread to communities across the country. In Woonsocket, groups held peaceful protests along Main Street even as fears those protests could turn violent went unfulfilled.
12/30/2020
Businesses faced closure, struggled to adapt in 2020
Nick and Elaine Markopolous, of Hudson, Mass., are served by Justine Dancuse, of Woonsocket, outside Christopher’s Kitchen & Bar in May. (Breeze file photo by Robert Emerson)
Pandemic spurs new activity in some sectors
There were few sectors harder hit by the COVID-19 pandemic than the small business community, where protective measures disrupted a way of life for thousands of business owners across the state.
In Woonsocket, restaurant owners and small retail businesses were forced to shut their doors to customers in March as a wave of infections spread across the state. Takeout replaced table service as customers flocked to support local restaurants, but with fewer customers and no in-person alcohol sales, many owners still reported a drop in sales of more than 50 percent.