About the Festival

History – 2000

In the second year, Pawtucket followed the lead of Providence by scheduling the Convergence Festival for the first three weeks in September 2000. Pawtucket's Convergence Executive Committee hired a program coordinator to plan a bigger and larger festival. More than 1,000 people came into downtown Pawtucket to kick off the City's Pawtucket 2000 Festival. Hundreds came to see the opening gala held at the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center. Across the street from the Convergence gala, more than 225 people attended Stone Soup Coffee House's 20th anniversary celebration in its new home at Slater Mill Historic Site. Just down the street at Veterans Memorial Amphitheater, more than 600 people came to watch chain saw-toting environmental artist and sculptor, Michael Higgins, and his chain saw sorcerers create a large wooden sculpture.

Throughout the three-week festival, at lunchtime and on weekends, music lovers could listen to blues (New York System and Ken Lyons), folk music (Mary Ann Rossoni & Bill Peterson Folk Duo), Jazz (Dixieland Trio) and Latino music by Clave Logic by the tumbling falls next to Slater Mill. One evening, classical music, performed by the internationally recognized Blackstone Valley Heritage Series, echoed throughout the Pawtucket Congregational Church.

At this Arts Festival, Pawtucket's Convergence Planning Committee brought art to children too. Parents and children packed Shea High School's auditorium to watch the incredible Dan Butterworth's Marionette show. At Slater Memorial Park, families came to listen to the Fiddling Gals, visited an Instrument Petting Zoo, and came to make scarecrows and clay sculptures.

For movie buffs, Mirror Image, Inc., a local business and Convergence Sponsor, organized the First Annual Pawtucket Film Festival, held in the 100-seat theater in the City's Visitor Center. At the State pier off School Street, hundreds of spectators came to watch the First Annual dragonboat Race & Festival. There was Chinese music and entertainment during the races.