Happy 201st Birthday, Brighton

Today officially marks the end of the Brighton-Allston Bicentennial.

The past year brought:

1. Opening of the Brighton-Allston Heritage Museum;
   
2. Recreation of the human flag on the steps of Brighton High School;
   
3. Riverfest at Herter Park along the Charles River;
   
4. Bicentennial Garden Tour;
5. Concert on the BRA's City Hall Plaza;
6. Concert by the Air Force Band at Chandler's Pond;
7. Allston Village Street Fair preceded by the Allston-Brighton Day Parade; and
   
8. Gala Jubilee in the new WGBH nuclear aircraft carrier. (Who was Charlie really dancing with?)
   

The coolest thing about all these, is that #1 continues on past the 200th year (the museum even has its own blog), and #6 (Air Force Band concert) and 7 (Allston Village Street Fair) were so successful that they may also continue this year -- or at least some people made that suggestion.

The Allston-Brighton TAB has a short video with images and narration about the history of Brighton for those who want the multimedia experience.

The entire community should thank the organizing committee for the bicentennial and all of its subcommittees. And especially, we should thank the co-chairs of the bicentennial committee: Theresa Hynes and Tim Schofield. Schofield got a lousy-paying position in the process -- instead of getting a better-paid one -- and Hynes got a nice little park during the past year. I think she got the better deal.

There is one piece of unfinished business: acquisition of a new piece of open space for the community. Stay tuned.

Oh, and I almost forgot: the last day of the 200th year was supposed to have a flea sale at the site of the Brighton-Allston Heritage Museum. It snowed a lot the day before, so they postponed the fire sale flea sale until Saturday, March 8th.

I hope they didn't sell off any of those old artifacts, especially not the diorama, based on the 1875 map of Brighton -- the earliest known surveyor's map of the town -- that's got my 1865 house on it.