AHA! Night 4-5-2026

Good morning, happy Easter, and welcome to Town Square Sunday. I'm your host, Jim Phillips. As we begin a new month, it's time to preview AHA Night in April. April 9th, to be exact. The theme is Protect the Planet. Joining us with details on a full night of activities in downtown New Bedford is Kim Goddard, AHA's Executive Director. Welcome back, Kim. Thank you, Jim. Good to be here. Okay, so April is all about protecting the planet with events starting at 5 p.m. in and around Custom House Square. Tell us about the celebration there and the procession, the parade that goes on every year. That's right. Well, we're doing something a little different this year. In the past, we've started and stopped over in another part of downtown on Pleasant Street. But this year, we're concentrating everything at Custom House Square. So it'll start there and end there. We've really created a more celebratory experience for all visitors of AHA Night to come and enjoy and watch the procession, but also engage with a number of organizations that will be tabling all around the park. We'll have a lot of interactive activities, and we're going to have a raffle. Okay. So, Tim Blast is coming back as our MC. We'll award a crown to two planet protectors. In the past, we've actually called them Mother Earth and Father Ocean, and this year, we decided to change it up a little bit. So we have two project protectors that we're awarding, and I can announce here, you're the first to know, Jim. Give it to me. It's Bernadette Souza, who's the Executive Director of Youth Opportunities Unlimited. She's been working and involved with youth for so many years, but what's really stood out for us is that she's done such a great job of connecting the youth with their natural surroundings and really honoring and respecting and learning about all the wonderful things and green spaces in New Bedford. Then also, Deirdre Healy. Deirdre is actually someone who's been involved with organizing this procession for many, many, many years, and she actually just retired. So we really wanted to honor her and all of her wonderful contributions to this experience that has become a great tradition. She's had a 25-year career at UMass Dartmouth. All right. Congratulations to both. Yeah. So tell us about the parade slash procession. Sure. This is a highlight, I think, every year. A lot of people take part. A lot of people take it seriously. They want to get involved, build a float, do this, do that. So tell us about it. Right. So everyone who's involved, and we've got about 200 or so people who are going to be in the procession and about 21 different organizations. Everyone who's involved, the whole premise is come and create, quote, unquote, their float, because it can be anything, but be respectful. Don't use anything that is tapping into fossil fuels. So a lot of upcycled, reusable materials, for example. People will come with banners and posters and the like, but some highlights, the Buzzards Bay Coalition is bringing their clean water mascot, CW. So CW will be marching with us. The South Coast Brass Band will be marching with us. We've also, we know that the Buttonwood Park Zoo is bringing their electronic golf cart, all decorated up. And there's also going to be several people dressed up and trees, bees, and flowers. You'll see them coming through on the parade. There's also the Discover Language Academy Folklore Group. They're going to be coming dressed in traditional Portuguese attire. So anyone and everyone is coming, and we really encourage everyone to come and support all of the folks in the procession. The library is actually handing out flowers made from repurposed pages from books, so book flowers, to all the folks that are watching, and also pollinator plant seeds so that they can encourage butterflies for their garden this spring. And what time does all this happen? So it kicks off, we've got a few of this ceremony starting around 5.15, and then the parade will start around 5.30. All right, great. So there's the first event. It's not the first event on your schedule, but it's important, a lot of fun, with a great message. And a lot of folks attend, and you heard him say like 200 people are going to be in the parade. That's pretty good. Now there's a lot of things on this month's schedule, and a lot of it deals with the environment. For instance, there's an opportunity to learn more about the environment at the Whaling Museum that begins at four o'clock, right? Right, yeah. They've got two different programs taking place at the museum. The first one is Explore Our Ecosystem. So in their Jacobs Gallery, the family gallery, you can learn how human activity and climate change has impacted our ecological balance. And then from four to six, there will be sort of a meet and greet with the UMass Dartmouth Ecology students and learn about some of their project work around this. All right. We'll talk some more about UMass Dartmouth graduate students coming up. But if you're interested in gardening, Mass Audubon is in town, and they're leading a gardening workshop at the Rose Jones Duff House and Garden Museum starting at four. Also, Grow Your Health. Grow Your Health, Grow Your Planet is the title of a program at the New Bedford Community Health Center. What's going on there? Yeah, like you pointed out, there's things happening all around downtown. And at the Community Health Center starting at 430, they're going to have hands-on activities and really allow people to sort of decorate their own pot and plant fresh herbs for their home and learn more about ways to sort of live healthy and do right by the environment. All right. Listen, if we just stop there, it'll be a pretty full night, but there's a lot more to come here on our program. You're listening to Town Square Sunday. I'm Jim Phillips. My guest is Kim Goddard, Executive Director of AHA Night in New Bedford. And of course, we remind you that Thursday, April 9th, is AHA Night in New Bedford, always the second Thursday of the month. And there will be several art-related events, including one at Gallery X. Can you tell us about that one? Sure. There's two exhibits. One is Ben Berkey's Dead Whale City. Now, Ben has been a reporter for the NPR station, the local NPR station, and this is an exhibit of several of his photographs that he took while working with NPR. So that should be quite fascinating and interesting. He's local. And then another exhibit, Patchwork. And this is where 50 local regional artists will share magic in the materials that they use and materials that they found all around us. So it's all about sort of sustainable, reused, handmade materials and the creations they've made from them. More art at the New Bedford Art Museum. Where else, of course, but artwork from graduate students at UMass Dartmouth. Going to be featured there with an art talk at 6 p.m. And there's a scavenger hunt to follow all of that. Tell us about what's going on at the art museum. Sure. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing the students work there. That'll be fascinating. And also, as you pointed out, there's this wonderful exhibit called Resistance that's at the museum right now. So they've created a whole scavenger hunt to invite the public to really discover and explore the whole exhibit. The only thing, they just caution a little bit that some of the material has mature themes, so they really encourage anyone 13 and up to join them for that part of the evening. Okay. Well, the Star Store is back in the mix for AHA Night. It's great to see that. Hosting a national juried art exhibit. Artists from 21 states are converging in New Bedford for this competition. This is wonderful. I know. It's great. It's the third one, actually. But Star Store has been starting to be open on AHA Nights and we couldn't be happier. It's just wonderful to see the lights on there on that corner, and what a wonderful way to use that space. There's going to be artists representing 38 cities across 21 states in the exhibit, and this is all about contemporary figurative artists, you know, exploring the human form. We've, this is something, our next item is something we've talked about before with yourself and also others, and that is the opening night for the New Bedford Film Festival at the Steeple Playhouse. The film festival will run through the weekend. It is an ambitious project started by Ethan Diaghiar and is really now in its third year and moving right along. Great to have the film festival as part of AHA, right? It sure is. It's the second year that they've joined us to kick things off, and yeah, Thursday night is really a celebration around awards that they're giving out, and what's special for us, not only are they doing that on an AHA night, which is so perfect, you know, celebrate very, you know, shared experience of film and all of the creative makers, but also we are going to be giving out the AHA Achievement Award that night, and I can share with you here that that's going to be given out to documentary short filmmaker and local filmmaker Julian Elliott, and this is a film called After the Reading, and it really embodies so special about New Bedford. I mean, we have a deep well of local creative talent, and this film does a great job sort of highlighting Julian's artistry and also just the collective commitment to these cultural experiences that are so rich in New Bedford, and it's a real special piece about a book club called BYOB, so I encourage everyone to come out and check out the film. Well, okay, you have, we want to point out that AHA Night on New Bedford for April 9th includes all these events and much more. You can check out the full list of events, times, and venues at ahanewbedford.org. I want to talk to you about AHA After Dark. We are continuing with that. There are five venues where you can find music here in the city of New Bedford. Tell us about AHA After Dark. Sure. It's really a way to let the public know that there's AHA continues on, and there's some things that might be more attractive to sort of the, you know, the 20-somethings, right, and the 30-somethings and 40 and on. So we've got a number of things happening. Anonymy Poetry will be at Third Eye, which is at 230 Union, and that's a open mic around poetry. So these are things that are happening sort of eight o'clock on. Sure. And then at Play Arcade, they have their karaoke, which is great. National Club right down the street from there, they have a DJ, Ange, will be on the premises. The Poor Farm will have Neil McCarthy and his full electric band, which is fun. And then at the Z, the Speakeasy will be open again, and on the tail of the Jazz Jam that takes place there, WOMTRONICA will be holding sort of an after-hours club experience. Cork will also have some music. Yeah. So I mean, it's a full evening of entertainment. Yes, some geared to younger children, some geared to older groups, and then some over 21. It's just, it never stops with you guys. It never stops. It really is a remarkable thing that you guys are putting together. In addition to all that, in addition to downtown cleanups, in addition to your partnerships with all these groups, you have a new community discussion in the works. Is that right? That's right, yes. We are going to be having what we have been calling a town hall, and we're putting the final details together, but people should save the date for April 27th. That's going to be at the First Unitarian Church, and this is a continuation of a conversation and input sessions we started last fall. So this is an update to the public and kind of giving them a chance to hear more about where we're at with the work. What's the goal here? Well, really, you know, there's so much that's going on in New Bedford that's just wonderful, but the fact is there are still a lot of retailers that are struggling. There's still some things that need support, greater support and attention, and so the goal here is to, with the community's input, to understand and prioritize some things that we want to get after, figure out the right funding source to support that work so that we can keep New Bedford thriving and vital. And clearly, when do you expect to, like, issue a report? When do you think you'll do that? Well, we're working with a number of folks to come together. We've got some additional help from the City of New Bedford, the Economic Development Council, and others to do an analysis, and that analysis will probably come about around in June, and then we'll be, you know, putting together a steering committee sort of to evaluate those proposals and that analysis to figure out the right way forward. So kind of mid-year, we'll be doing a check-in on that to figure out the right plan. Okay, we'll be talking to you about that. Very good. Yeah, look forward to that. And so again, we really can't say this enough, AHA Night, April 9th, includes all of the events we've talked about and much more, really much, much more. You can check out the full list of events, times, and venues at ahanewbedford.org. You know, we've talked about some things that may not be for you. Maybe you want to do something else. You want to go to that gardening workshop with the Audubon group at the Rose Jones Duff House or something else. If you have small children, you want to go to the library and create some flowers or what, you know. I mean, it really is a full list of stuff that is really geared to fit you, fit the people of New Bedford. It's all free, and it's meant to be very inspiring and engaging. And like you said, the website will have the most up-to-date information and we'll have printed programs downtown as well. That's great. Well, Kim, thanks for coming in. It's always a pleasure. It's always good to be here. Thank you. We'll be talking again. Okay. Next month. Well, coming up next, a college fair in New Bedford highlighting historically black colleges and universities around the country. We'll speak with the founder when Town Square Sunday continues. I earned my degree online at Arizona State University. I chose to get my degree at ASU because I knew that I'd get a quality education. They were recognized for excellence and that I would be prepared for the workforce upon graduating. To be associated with ASU, both as a student and alum, it makes me extremely proud. And having experienced the program, I know now that I'm set up for success. Learn more at asuonline.asu.edu.