Wayland HRDEIC backs $12,000 town ask for combined October festival

WAYLAND -- December 17, 2024, Wayland HRDEIC votes 10-0 to seek $12,000 from Select Board for combined October festival. The committee unanimously backed a request to fund a merged Touch-a-Truck, Multicultural Festival and Arts Wayland event spanning three areas of the town center, on an indicative budget of roughly $19,600 that includes a 40-by-100-foot tent at up to $4,200 and a rented stage at up to $4,100. Arts Wayland board member Chris Reynolds, who pitched the plan, said this fall's Touch-a-Truck drew at least 600 people and that shared porta-potties, tables and chairs would yield real economies of scale. Member Yawu Khan moved to add roughly $2,000 to the performance line to honor semi-professional cultural performers; Janot Mendler de Suarez made the formal motion. Chair Karen Blumenfeld said every booking should help residents who "live, work, worship, study or send their kids to school" in Wayland feel they belong. The committee tabled a draft list of 10 monthly cultural observances after debate over Lunar New Year and Arab American Heritage Month, and reported 50 to 60 people attended its Dec. 10 Human Rights Day event.