Greenfield Recorder 08/16/2010, Page A01

Putting on the Ritz (box)
Fashion show using recycled materials part of Block Party fun

By BOB DUNN
Recorder Staff

TURNERS FALLS - Next time you think you don't have anything to wear, check the recycling bin.

A group of about 12 local models made an appearance at the Turners Falls Block Party on Saturday evening wearing outfits constructed from materials many wouldn't consider saving, never mind making into clothing.

Phone books, bicycle tires, umbrella fabric, price tags from Salvation Army clothing stores, bingo cards, newspapers, garbage bags, and more were fashioned into fashion by the artists.

Rachel Teumim took seven years worth of saved chopsticks, drilled small holes in them, connected them with electrical wire and made them into a dress and used cheese labels as an undergarment.

Teumim, a Montague resident, said that she originally intended to make a chair from the chopsticks, but realized that was a much larger project than she anticipated.

She said she spent a few hours a day for a few weeks getting the dress ready to wear and said that because it's all connected with the electrical wire, it's pretty simple to put on and take off.

This is the second year the Fabrication recycled fashion show has been held at the block party, Teumim said.

She had participated in earlier laundromat fashion shows that featured left-behind clothing and approached Lisa Davol, the cultural coordinator for Turners Falls River Culture, about incorporating Fabrication in the block party.

But it wasn't all cast-off couture; two stages of music, food from about 15 different vendors, arts and crafts, raffles and games were See PARTY Page A2

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all part of the annual summer party.

This was the fourth year for the party, Davol said, and the biggest one yet.

"There are twice as many vendors this year," she said. "It's definitely growing."

Davol said she attributes a lot of the success of the event and the interest in it to the creative element of the people who live in and around the Turners Falls area as well as the area itself.

"It's aesthetically beautiful, relatively low rent, there's amazing architecture, it's a great community," Davol said. "It's very livable and appealing."

Davol also praised town government for being helpful and accommodating with the event from its inception.

"The town has been amazing, very willing to work with new things," Davol said.

The party began at 2 p.m. with a parade down Avenue A featuring community groups, a non-precision folding chair team, dog owners and their charges, a soap box derby racer, wheeled sculptures, singers, a forklift, and a float sponsored by the Between the Uprights sports bar, complete with goalpost.

Davol said the party atmosphere perfectly tied in with the new slogan the Montague Business Association has adopted during the bridge reconstruction and the accompanying detours it brings with it.

"It's easy to love, hard to leave," she said.

Dogs and their owners, above, joined the Turners Falls Block Party Parade on Saturday afternoon which featured a blend of artistic and musical themes highlighting the Village of Turners Falls. Below, Madeline Keating, 7, of Turners Falls enjoys some cotton candy and a snow cone, which she and her mom, Christina, shared during the Block Party.

Recorder photos/Geoff Bluh

David Creque of Turners Falls rides his skateboard on his hands at the Turners Falls Block Party on Saturday. Creque has been skateboarding for 35 years.

Recorder/Geoff Bluh