LYNN — The first annual Cook St. Park Community Fiesta was quite the success Saturday, with approximately 700 people in attendance throughout the day and 34 vendors providing a variety of entertaining activities.
Creator of the fiesta, Ward 2 City Councilor Obed Matul said the idea for the event came to him when he was campaigning in the area last year. He noticed that there were four prominent schools close to the park, yet the park wasn’t in great shape.
“We saw a lot of things that didn’t seem right,” Matul said.
With all the schools in the area, he wanted the park to be a safer, more welcoming environment and told his wife it would be one of his main priorities if he were elected.
Matul did some research once elected, and partnered with United Nations CDC, the Highlands Coalition, and Kingdom Basketball to bring the idea of the Community Fiesta to life.
“The reason we named it the Community Fiesta is to highlight that diversity in that neighborhood,” Matul said.
The whole reason behind the event, Matul said, was to bring awareness to what the park could be.
“Throughout the day (Saturday), I had so many people say, ‘Hey, I didn’t even know we had a park here.’ One person said, ‘I had to Google it four or five times to make sure that I was in the right spot because I didn’t even know that we had a park here,’” Matul said.
The fiesta included soccer and basketball games hosted by Kingdom Basketball, a K-9 dog show put on by the sheriff’s department, and a presentation by the JROTC.
“I have to really thank the JROTC team and the sergeant, because the ROTC cadets, they were there since 9 in the morning all the way until 3,” Matul said, adding that they volunteered to work and help out the entire day.
Matul is planning on making the fiesta a yearly event, and is excited for the festivities next year.
“We were very happy because we had the support from everybody,” Matul said.
