Nearly 700 Allston-Brighton residents put down their animosities and picked up hot dog buns at the 18th annual Community Partnership Day at Harvard stadium Saturday.
Years of icy protests from Allston-Brighton residents following the school’s plans to create a multi-billion dollar expansion into the Allston-Brighton neighborhood thawed for a day as the university provided food and football tickets to area residents.
Harvard promised members of the Allston-Brighton Harvard Task Force that the expansion would provide new jobs to residents of the community and help to clean up the area, but Allston residents continued to have problems with the extension of the school into their community, as it would push many residents out of their homes.
Brighton resident John Bruno said the free lunch in the middle of Harvard’s track followed by a ticket to Harvard’s football game against Lehigh University brought the communities together.
‘Community Day brought down the fences Harvard put up to the community,’ he said. ‘Each year the fences come down more and more.’
Harvard spokesman Kevin McCluskey said when he first initiated the event 18 years ago as ‘a way to welcome neighbors,’ only 70 people attended.
Allston resident Faith Girdler, who called herself a ‘Community Day virgin,’ said she thought the event was a good effort to support the Allston-Brighton community on behalf of the university, but said it was not enough.
‘I cannot be bought off for cheap sandwiches when there’s no wine or beer,’ Girdler said, though she added, ‘It’s great to finally get something out of Harvard after dealing with the obnoxious undergraduates for 20 years.’
Brighton resident Lauren McGrath said she and her family have been going to Community Day for five years and said it has brought the community together.
‘We come with three generations every year,’ she said. ‘It’s nice to see many people from town on a social basis, not just passing them by or seeing them in a store.”
McGrath’s father, Denis Minihane, said he has also been going to Community Day for the past six years.’
‘It’s a chance to bring young people to see the university,’ he said. ‘They can rub shoulders with tradition and history.’
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