The Honorable Mayor David N. Cicilline, Connect Providence, and Get RI Magazine invite you to gather at Providence City Hall (25 Dorrance St) from 6-8pm on February 10, 2009 for the first annual Valentine’s Day social celebration of Rhode Island’s capitol.
I HEART PROVIDENCE is a free event featuring complimentary hors d’oeuvres and cash bar by Trinity Brewhouse, chocolate truffles by Sin (www.eatwicked.com) and heart-shaped pies by Cutie Pies. Attendees are encouraged to bring poems, songs, and/or stories dedicated to Providence. Master of Ceremonies for the evening is Dan White, introducing live music from the likes of Jacob Haller, Route .44, and many more. Quahog.org will be present to fine-tune people’s history of Providence.
Attendees may share why they “Heart Providence” by participating in one of two video confession booths during the event, courtesy of Vision Wink Productions (www.visionwink.com). Testimonials from I HEART PROVIDENCE will be remixed and distributed online through YouTube, Facebook, and other online social media mechanisms to promote the city inside and outside of Rhode Island’s borders.
I HEART PROVIDENCE
Tues, Feb. 10th, 6-10pm
City Hall, Providence
About Connect Providence
Founded in 2004 by Providence resident, Owen Johnson, Connect Providence is dedicated to helping folks get the most out of our Little City of Big Dreams through information, education, and free, fun monthly gatherings. Whether it’s a house, a friend, a bar, a hobby or a business partner, Connect Providence is here to help you make the right connection to the city of Providence: www.connectprovidence.org
Fun! I will NOT be reading my Providence poem at I <3 Providence tonight. This sounds like shiny happy event and people who don’t know I’m kidding will think I’m trashing my adoptive city and its characters. (It’s also hella-long.)
THE NIGHT BEFORE WATERFIRE by Annie Messier w/apologies to Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston or whoever wrote the original
‘Twas the night before Waterfire, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The gondolas were lined in the river with care,
In hopes that their customers soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of kettle corn danced in their heads;
And, lacking air conditioning, I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long summer’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on my neighbor’s lawn so bare
Gave the lustre of mid-day to what was out there,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature boat, and eight gondoliers,
With a little old driver, so lively and ruddy,
I knew in a moment it must be Buddy.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
“Now, Sal! now, Frankie! now, Tony and Marco!
On, Enzo! on Dante! on, Vincent and Carlo!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the rowers they flew,
With the boat full of doughboys, and Cianci too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard out the door
The scraping and scrunching of each little oar.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney Cianci came with a bound.
He was dressed all in stripes, with shiny black buttons,
And his clothes were all tarnished with corruption and glutton;
A bundle of bills he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes — how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His mouth was drawn up in a big ol’ wide grin,
The toupee on his head was as goofy as sin;
The stump of a cigar he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round tummy,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of money.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And stacked up the wood piles; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the fire escape he rose;
He sprang to his boat, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he’d ducked out of sight,
“Good Waterfire to all, and to all a good-night.”