Comedy and a Cause: Hypnotist Fundraiser Supports Adams Street Fair
ADAMS, Mass. — You are getting sleepy ... very sleepy ... and when I snap my fingers, you'll feel an irresistible urge to support your first responders.
Did it work? Probably not — I'm a writer, not a hypnotist.
Fortunately, R-rated hypnotist Frank Santos Jr. has that part covered. On Saturday, Aug. 8, Santos will bring his comedy hypnosis show to town for a fundraiser benefiting the Adams Street Fair, with proceeds helping support the annual community event.
The fundraiser will be held at Turn Hall, 6 Turners Ave., beginning at 5 p.m. with a spaghetti dinner, followed by Santos' performance at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 and include dinner, with all proceeds benefiting the Adams Street Fair.
"It's going to be a great show," said Joseph Martin, Adams Street Fair Committee chair.
The spaghetti and meatballs will be made by Stacy Gigliotti and the brownies for dessert will be donated by M&J's Taste of Home Diner, he said.
To make the sale of the tickets as accessible as possible Martin said he is willing to personally deliver tickets to anyone interested in attending.
Santos said he will invite willing volunteers to be hypnotized and take part in light-hearted, comedy skits during his performance.
"I do a lot of fun things ... [the audience gets] super relaxed, so they feel fantastic. Most of the people that hypnotize always like to come back to do it again, so they leave feeling refreshed, energized, and great," he said.
"Laughter is great medicine and people after the show come up to me and they tell me stories about how they needed a good laugh, and that's what makes me feel good about doing it."
This laughter is not only great medicine for audience members, but also for the Adams Street Fair Committee that is working to raise funds for its annual event.
The committee needs to raise about $10,000 to cover the cost of the annual street fair. So far, with its previous fundraising efforts, it has raised approximately $6,000, Martin said.
At a time when municipal budgets are stretched thin, the Adams Street Fair has helped bridge the gap by raising money for the town's first responders, with funds supporting a variety of needs, including equipment, supplies and community outreach initiatives, responders said.
For six years, the Adams Street Fair has brought the community together, growing larger with each passing year but as attendance and activities have increased, so too have the costs of putting on the event.
The first year it had about 800 attendees and last year, for the fifth anniversary of the event, it had more than 2,000 attendees, Martin said.
The daylong event features live performances, games, a kids' area, bounce houses, and vendors.
The more people who attend the event, the more vendors and activities are attracted. In turn, a greater variety of activities draws even more attendees, creating a cycle that ultimately raises more money for local first responders, said Bruce Witherell, the fair's entertainment director.
The monies raised from the Adams Street Fair has been a "godsend," bringing community members downtown and raising funds that have gone directly back into the community, Alert Hose Company Secretary Michael Therrien said.
After expenses, the street fair has raised approximately $20,000 for Adams first responders, including the Police Department, Fire Department, Forest Wardens and Northern Berkshire Emergency Medical Services.
Some of the funding goes to the Police Department's union, Mass Cop Local 367, which does a lot of charitable work, including sponsoring sports teams for local kids, Christmas toy drives, gifts for the elderly, and more, said Sgt. Greg Onorato, union president.
Municipalities are under a lot of pressure financially, so the union's ability to raise money and receive donations from local organizations, such as the Adams Street Fair, help keep them afloat, he said.
The community outreach work done by the department also plays a role in keeping residents safe because it serves as a preventative measure, helping build trust and stronger relationships between officers and the community, Onorato said.
"When your community has a good relationship with its police department, they feel a little more comfortable reporting crimes or things that have happened and coming to us when they need help," the sergeant said.
He highlighted the department's upcoming National Night Out event on Aug. 4 from 5 to 7 at the Visitors Center as another opportunity to strengthen the department's relationship with the community, as part of the national community-building campaign.
Tags: benefit, street fair,
