Come to Merriment in Melrose and see the Melrose Curve at its best with music, food trucks, a vendor gift market and more, 4-8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, presented by the Osborn School District Music Department in partnership with the Community Alliance of Seventh Avenue (CASA) and the Seventh Avenue Merchants Association (SAMA).
The event, along the west side of 7th Avenue from Glenrosa south to MacKenzie Drive, features live music on two stages including the Osborn Middle School Firedrums. There also will be food trucks from Best In Show, more than 40 local craft vendors, luminarias, free family activities, and your favorite 7th Avenue stores and restaurants staying open late.
Additional musical acts include indie rock band Joh-Ne, banjo extraordinaire Richard Bogen, Scott “Elvis” Orband, and rock band League of Zeros. Food trucks will include Marcel Belgian waffles, 2 Wild & Cheesy Guys, and Zpotes Salvadorian.
Local businesses will participate in an inaugural Holiday Lights Contest, with $300 in prizes up for grabs. Lights will go up Dec. 1, and judging will take place the night of Merriment in Melrose.
Monetary donations collected that night will be used to purchase new instruments for the growing music programs in the Osborn District. For more information, visit www.merrimentinmelrose.com.
Earlier that same day in the Melrose District, the new Lyceum Park will be dedicated almost a year to the day from the groundbreaking that was held on Dec. 16, 2017.
The Lyceum, a community park and gathering space at the northwest corner of 7th Avenue and Montecito, has been an all-volunteer effort of materials and labor funded through donations, both monetary and in-kind. The land was donated by Clear Channel Outdoor, and the project was overseen by CASA, whose board members come from the four neighborhoods adjacent to the Melrose District.
Lyceum means “gathering place,” and the project is a passive park with shade, seating, low-water trees and plants, lighting, a stage, bike racks and plenty of space to mingle.
CASA engaged Norris Design, LLC to design and build the improvements, and Norris chose Harvest Design Group for the construction. Both companies donated a significant amount of the work.
A majority of the materials for the project also were donated, and additional capital was raised by selling engraved “donor bricks,” which will be placed in the ground in a special area of the park.
The Dec. 15 dedication event is tentatively scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., however, for the most up-to-date information, visit www.casaon7thave.org, or find them on Facebook at Community Alliance of Seventh Avenue.