do you need some reasons to come to Lawrence this weekend?

Lawrence City Hall

Labor Day weekend has long been a weekend of celebration in Lawrence. This weekend marks the 96th Feast of the Three Saints, the 45th Mahrajan at Saint Anthony's Maronite Church, and the 35th  Bread and Roses Heritage Festival. The whole city becomes a celebration, bringing together labor history, immigrant history and culture, music, and food in a vibrant city still very much the Immigrant City. You can celebrate Italian culture, Lebanese culture, and labor history from Friday evening through Monday. Celebrating in a city that actually celebrates labor on Labor Day is reason enough to be here, but in case you need more reasons, here are a few.

Feast of the Three Saints

 

From from Friday evening through Sunday, the feast celebrates three Catholic saints — St. Alfio, St. Filadelfo and St. Cirino, brothers who were martyred for their faith almost 1,800 years ago. They have been commemorated with a feast in Trescastagni, Sicily for centuries and Italian immigrants who came to Lawrence to work in the mills brought the tradition with them. Come feel the Lawrence history as you enjoy food, music, and the procession.

The Main Stage at Feast of the Three Saints

Come for the most famous Sicilian treat: crispelli. These perfect little dough balls, plain or filled with ricotta or anchovy continue to be a big draw even after the tradition of making them has been passed from the beloved Italian Kitchen to Crispelli USA. My brother-in-law, who grew up in Lawrence, swears by the anchovy ones. I prefer the plain ones with sugar on them.  Crispelli USA also serves up the delicious arancini (rice balls) and multiple flavors of Italian sausage. And don't forget to grab some cannoli from the tent in the parking lot of the Holy Rosary Church and check out the food vendors along Common Street before or after you take in the music on the main stage or the Tripoli stage.

Friday night, Saturday afternoon and evening/night, and Sunday afternoon all feature entertainment on both stages. I'm most looking forward to hearing Mike Girard's Big Swinging Thing. This band is enough reason to come to Lawrence even if you don't live right next door. Seriously folks, you do not want to miss a rock and roll big band with lots of horns put together by the legendary Mike Girard and featuring a couple of other members of one of the greater Boston area's most beloved bands: The Fools! Yes, I'm told they will do some Fools classics as well as covering many rock and roll standards. Speaking of The Fools, they're doing a show with the Stompers at Boarding House Park in Lowell on Saturday night (8/31)  and that's not all that far from Lawrence.

Bread and Roses Heritage Festival

Come learn about and celebrate the history and legacy of the 1912 strike that changed labor history. Take a trolley tour or a walking tour of the historic sites and check out the Lawrence History Live! tent for discussions of labor, industrial heritage, education, and community issues with historians, writers, union representatives, and community activists. The discussions range from the role of the Lawrence Lithuanian community in the 1919 textile strike (yup, that other significant Lawrence strike) with Lithuanian folklorist and weaver/artist Jonas Stundzia to lessons from the Puerto Rico protests with singer/songwriter and activist Ani Cordero. And that's just the history tent! Cordero will also be performing her music on the Bernstein stage.

The music line-up for this year's festival looks great with lots of different traditions: folk-pop, rock and roll, Peruvian Andean music, neo-ranchera, Klezmer and lots more. Just take a look at the schedule and you're sure to find something that catches your interest. Besides Ani Cordero, I'm also looking forward to hearing Julie Rhodes belt out some roots music.

The Crowd on Campagnone Common for Bread and Roses

On Labor Day from 11:30 AM - 6:00PM Campagnone Common hosts an amazing array of activities:

• Three stages featuring music, storytelling, and even magic and juggling
• Bread and Puppet Theater taking on the nature of reality through giant puppets 
• Pony rides, face painting, reptiles, the KidzZone (creative stuff for kids), and other kid-friendly activities
• Getting your portrait drawn by noted illustrator Ed Bray
• The food court featuring foods of many cultures

If that's not enough to do, you'll also find community organizations, political candidates, and labor organizations tabling along with various vendors. The common becomes a microcosm of Lawrence and the world.

Lebanese Mahrajan Festival

 

Fresh Homemade Felafel

Who can resist mammoul, graybeh, or baklava? Who can resist felafel? There's plenty of time to get a taste of Lebanese culture at St. Anthony's Maronite Church.  With three days of music, dancing, games, hookah, Arabic coffee, raffles, and even dancing and cooking lessons,  Saint Anthony's church parking lot turns into a wonderland. The food is all homemade and delicious, the pastry tent is up to three tables long, the music is great, and the parishioners are friendly. You'll feel right at home partaking in this great Merrimack Valley tradition. Stop by  Friday 6PM-Midnight,  Saturday 5PM- Midnight, and Sunday Noon-Midnight.

Just the Ordinary Extraordinary Coolness of Lawrence

 

Besides the festivals, there's plenty of stuff to do and see in Lawrence this weekend. Here are just a few of the cool things you can do:

You might want to check out poster collector Stephen Lewis' exhibit of international labor posters at the Lawrence Heritage State Park Visitor Center. It's on exhibit through September 28.

There's always a reason to grab a coffee, enjoy some good food, check out the current art exhibit, and maybe buy some books at El Taller, a buzzing hub of community in downtown Lawrence.

Speaking of eating good food, I've heard that Chef Antonio at Cafe Azteca is cooking up a new special this weekend: chicken and shrimp in salsa de cacahuate. That salsa sounds amazing: roasted tomatoes, onions, garlic, morita, and peanuts.  (Hope I got that right.) 

Take a walk in search of some of the gorgeous murals painted by the Elevated Thought Foundation and local artists.

Just come to Lawrence and enjoy the city during its most festive weekend!

Recap: EforAll Lowell Lawrence Change the World Pitch Contest

On Thursday, August 22, Lowell's Kerouac Park hosted an EforAll Lowell-Lawrence pitch contest. What gorgeous night for an outdoor pitch contest! Mother Nature cooperated with comfortable temperatures and no more thunderstorms.

Perfect Night for a Pitch Contest

The theme for this contest was Change the World and it attracted a wide variety of ideas from mitigating climate change with Biochar to gourmet African hot sauce and everything in between. There was a decent-sized and lively crowd of entrepreneurs and their supporters. I checked out the tables, cast my table favorite votes, took photos, grabbed some delicious food from Empanada Dada (an EforAll Lowell-Lawrence Accelerator alum), and spent some time just enjoying the beautiful evening in the park.

Swan Patisserie Table

Another EforAll Lowell-Lawrence Accelerator alum,  Swan Patisserie, LLC, had a table selling their delicious pastry treats, but I was so full of tasty empanadas I had no room left for pastry.

Assertiv Table

Assertiv is a consulting service that helps people in business, government and education improve their public speaking skills through coaching, workshops and an app.  I enjoyed talking with Nathalie and practicing her PREP method of presenting a point. Once I made the rounds of the tables, I went back to make sure I gave her a vote to present. I was happy to see that she won the Table Favorite vote and got to present and that she won second prize.

Biochar Table

Urban Biochar is a new take on improving soil health and stormwater filtration with a type of carbonized biomass that differs from charcoal in the way it's created and in its filtering properties. The production process and the incorporation into the soil combine to make it carbon negative, which is definitely something we need. Do check out the link.

Weather Hazard Planning Workshop Table

Jerry is a weather strategist  who was pitching his weather hazard planning workshop. I think a lot of people were aware of needing a weather hazard plan after Wednesday's multiple tornado warnings. I was full of weather questions and enjoyed talking with him. We're going to need a lot more weather hazard planning around here as the climate changes and sea level rises.

A Couple of the Judges Checking out the UNIFIT Table

UNiFIT makes creative use of augmented reality to make it a whole lot easier to order clothes online that actually fit you.

Grass is Greener Table

Grass is Greener  is a YouTube vlog with a positive outlook. Chris was selling merch with the cool Grass is Greener logo to raise funds to support the vlogging effort. We chatted a bit about cameras before I took his picture.

USe Cart Table -- Part of the USe Cart Team

USe Cart pitched a smart shopping cart that takes self-checkout to new level -- not just reducing the long checkout lines but eliminating them -- and makes it work for small businesses too (not just the Amazons of the world). USe Cart, a UML DifferenceMaker, won the 2019 Rist Innovative Technology prize and was enormously popular at the pitch contest. It was no surprise that they won the Fan Favorite voting.

ArcLive Table

ArcLive  gives you access to research archives -- even stuff that's not digitized -- so you don't have to travel to do your historical or genealogical research.  I love the idea of reducing travel cost for scholars while making archives available.

Afro Gourmet Table

Afro Gourmet Specialist aims to bring the taste of Africa to your table. Tried some and loved it! Check her Facebook page (TroPical Spoon) to find where you can buy it. I hope to see it available in more places soon.

Sporvo Table

Sporvo is a mentorship program for former student athletes to mentor current student athletes in high school and middle school.

Needle Net Table

Needle Net keeps the area under and around the Christmas Tree neat and makes cleanup easy and environmentally friendly.  You attach it to the trunk of your real tree before it goes into the tree stand. It turns into a tree skirt and lets you just bag it up while the tree is still in the stand, and dispose of the shed needles and the skirt when you dispose of the tree.

Waist Beads Table

Waist Beads are a traditional African accessory that consist of small glass beads on a string or wire worn around the waist or hips. They can help you with body awareness and they just look cool.  Rita Ofori-Frimpong had a table full of gorgeous waist beads in different colors and shapes.

Revolutionary Creatives Table

Revolutionary Creatives is on a mission to nurture and connect the creative community.

The Judges

The judges for the evening were:

• Howard Amidon, Vice President for Philanthropy at Greater Lowell Community Foundation 
• Kesiah Bascom, Founder of OffBeet Compost 
• Jonathan Berk, Director of Patronicity 
• Portia Blunt, Director of Apparel Operations at New Balance 
• Nancy Donahue, Lowell Philanthropist

Mayor Bill Samaras welcomed us all to Lowell with a short speech to kick off the presentations.

Mayor Bill Samaras

Our EforAll Lowell-Lawrence masters of ceremonies were (as usual :-) ) Lianna Kushi and Joey Banh.

Lianna and Joy Introducing the Pitchers

The scheduled pitchers were ArcLive, Sporvo, UNiFIT, Afro Gourmet Specialist, Revolutionary Creatives, and USe Cart. Assertiv won the Table Favorite slot and Biochar got the wild card. There was an additional pitch from guest entrepreneur Caitlin McNamara, a rising entrepreneur at Lowell High, who pitched her Spritz Away stress-relieving scented spray.

Caitlin Pitching Spritz Away

The winners for the night were:

• 1st Place: Afro Gourmet Specialist
• 2nd Place: Assertiv
• Third Place: Sporvo
• Fan Favorite: Difference Maker Team: USe Cart

The Winners with their Huge Cardboard Checks

miniMIN

The first ever mini Mass Innovation Nights event (miniMIN) took place on Thursday night at Staples Studio in Danvers, the latest thing in coworking space. So, what's a miniMIN? A smaller, quieter version of MIN. The event featured only 5 products instead of the usual 10 (or sometimes more) so everyone got to do a presentation and there was plenty of time to check out every table.

Staples Studio

Part of the Coworking Space

CareAline aims to change the standard of care for patients with implanted vascular access lines. This  story is a great example of innovation that came out of the founder's response to a real and personal need. Founder Kezia Fitzgerald encountered a need to make line management safer and more comfortable when her daughter was diagnosed with cancer and had to have vascular access lines for chemo. The CareAline sleeves and wraps keep the access lines covered and off the skin while still being fully accessible for treatment. Both the sleeve and the central wrap are FDA registered. Since presenting at MIN 106 they've become integrated into more hospitals. This innovation just makes so much sense! Hope it continues to be adopted more widely.

CareAline

Lawn Serv's Do-it-Yourself lawn care subscription box is customized for your lawn's particular needs. You provide a soil sample and Lawn Serv selects the right mix of lawn care supplies for you based on the soil analysis. Their  monthly box provides all the supplies you need for your lawn for each season.  Even though I don't have a lawn, I enjoyed talking with them. Especially since when they showcased at MIN118, their table was so busy I couldn't get near it. If I did have a lawn, I think I would subscribe.

Lawn Serv

It was great to see Karen from Keysie again after meeting her at MIN123 in Lawrence. The Keysie Key Wallet a whole new kind of accessory that holds your keys and credit cards and hooks right onto your purse or your belt. Who hasn't had the "where are my keys?" experience? Keysie keeps you from misplacing your keys in the first place. Best of all, you don't have to unhook it to put the key in the lock. No digging in purse or pocket. No fumbling around trying to unlock your door. Keys, frequently used credit cards, and your ID all within easy reach. All that and it is extremely cool-looking too.  It got my vote for Audience Favorite and not surprisingly it won!

Keysie

Atomic Coffee Roasters, a popular North Shore roastery (and Beverly coffee shop) that supplies a number of cafes and restaurants in the area, has recently put more of their focus on wholesale and on cold brew. They have a facility for cold brew and nitro cold brew in Danvers and are selling these beverages to grocery stores and cafe chains. They are also available for business offices to purchase. Imagine your office coffee room having carefully crafted cold brew ... mmm mmm good. They were distributing samples and I drank a delicious bottle of plain black cold brew (I'm not big on the sweetened and milky coffees). It was very smooth and full-flavored and I really enjoyed it. I can see how this would be a hit in offices and coworking spaces.

Atomic Coffee Roasters

AliGo Mobile is a mobile orthodontic office specializing in Invisalign treatment and whitening services. I spotted their elegant-looking Airstream (hitched to an orange pickup truck) in the parking lot as soon as I pulled in. They partner with businesses and office parks to provide on-site Invisalign consultation, care, and management (and whitening service too). I took a look inside and it is indeed a well-appointed orthodontic office. With the way commutes are going in the Boston area these days, it's getting harder and harder to get to and from an appointment during the work day.  AliGo Mobile makes it worthwhile for companies to provide access to high-quality orthodontic care as an employee benefit that saves employees both time and money while helping them look and feel their best. And, yes, they do serve companies in the Seaport District. Ask your HR department about AliGo Mobile.

AliGo

Inside AliGo

This being a mini MIN, there were only two prize winners. The prizes from Staples Studio went to AliGo Mobile, which won the online voting, and to Keysie, which won the Audience Choice voting.

Prize Winners AliGo and Keysie

The Expert Corner featured marketing/social media/PR phenomenon  Bobbie Carlton, founder of Carlton PR and Marketing and Innovation Nights, Ken Perlow from Staples Studio, and Carol Costello from Staples. For the traditional Experts Looking Expert shot it seems perfect to feature BobbieC and one of her MINions launching the miniMIN concept.

Experts Looking Expert and Offering Fabulous Prizes for Tweeting

The next Mass Innovation Nights event, #MIN125, is a full-sized MIN on Tuesday, August 13 at District Hall in Boston's Seaport District.  Register, check out the products, and vote for the 4 you want to hear.

reasons to come to Lowell this weekend

It's that wonderful time of year already! The Lowell Folk Festival is this weekend! That's right, the longest running and second largest free folk festival in the USA starts on Friday.  The festival is celebrating its 33rd year and if you haven't been there yet, you have been missing out for a long time.  Need some reasons to come this year? Here are a few.

Rahzel Beat Boxing at Kennedy Plaza Stage 2018 Lowell Folk Festival

1. Free Music! 

As always, the festival lineup encompasses an amazing variety of traditional music from around the world.

Guitarist Vieux Farka Touré (yes, he's the son of the famous Ali Farka Touré) is bringing the Saharan blues from Mali. He works in some elements of Latin music and rock with the traditional music of Mali to create a new tradition deeply rooted in the old tradition. I'm excited to get to hear him.

Does Irish trad music speak to your soul? Open the Door for Three, from Portland, Maine, bring a new energy and fresh approach to the traditional repertoire. Whether they're playing the really old stuff going back centuries or their own new compositions, their music carries forward the tradition.

You never know when you'll discover a musical tradition you never knew about before. From Canary Islands timple to Siberian khomus, there is something for every music lover.

Georgian Bagpipe at 2018 Lowell Folk Festival

2. Huge Variety of Ethnic Food

One of the best Folk Festival traditions is the amazing array of food booths presented by local churches and nonprofits to raise money for their community programs and showcase their food cultures. You can experience Greek, Polish, Brazilian, Lao, Burmese, Liberian, Kenyan, Middle Eastern and loads of other culinary traditions of the world without leaving downtown.

Some vendors have been participating for many years and have developed a following. The longest lines are always for the lumpia, turon, and other Pilipino offerings from Iskwelahang Pilipino who have been coming for over 25 years. The line for pierogi from the Lowell Polish Cultural Committee is the stuff of legend and I can vouch for the fact that they are worth lining up for. The gyros from the Hellenic American Academy PTA have a dedicated following as well. 

Some of the more recent additions to food line up are getting lots of attention too. Be sure to check out the African BBQ, cassava leaves and Jollof rice, and especially the Calla (Liberian donuts).  Another emerging crowd favorite is the Burmese food from the Saydanar Community Development Center. The myin khwar ywet kyaw and other Burmese pennywort dishes made a big impression on me last year.

My personal favorite is still the loobie & rooz from St. George Antiochian Church, but I make sure to try something new every year.  You'll be sure to find old favorites and new tastes.

Iskwelahang Pilipino at 2015 Folk Festival

3. Baklava Sundaes

There are people who come to Lowell just to enjoy the baklava sundaes from the Hellenic American Academy PTA. Yup, these delicious treats are reason enough to come to Lowell this weekend.

My Favorite Baklava Sundae Photo

4. There's More to Folk than Music

So, when you think folk, do you only think music? Ah, but there's so much more to cultural traditions!  Think foodways and folk crafts and art, oh my! The festival's folklife area in Lucy Larcom Park showcases food and craft traditions centered on this year's theme Fish and Fowl.

Foodways

Food preparation, family stories about traditional foods, and the role that fish and fowl play in native and immigrant traditions are the perfect complement to musical traditions. Want to learn how to make fish curry or chicken soup? The Foodways demos have got you covered.

Pickle Making Demo at 2015 Folk Festival

Folk Crafts

This year’s folk craft area centers around the fish and fowl theme also, with the focus on birds and fish as subject matter for carving and painting in addition to their role as source of food and sport.You can watch a demo and even try your hand at weaving a traditional Wampanoag fish weir as you learn about the importance of shad, alewife, cod, whitefish, salmon, and sturgeon in New England. Find out how to make a fly rod from bamboo, tie a fly, carve a decoy, make a needle-felted piping plover (my favorite bird), or even build a ship in a bottle. Birds and fish as a theme encompass all sorts of aspects of folk craft.

Quilting Traditions at 2015 Folk Festival

5. Streets Alive with Pop-up Shops, Art in the Courtyard, Destination Lowell and More

Art is everywhere in Lowell all the time, but especially during Folk Festival. Art in the Courtyard showcases local artists at tents in the courtyard between the National Historical Park Visitor Center and the Brush Art Gallery. Artists will also be selling and displaying their work in the Brush Art Gallery and Studios.

New this year, the ever quirky-fun-charming  Mill No. 5 is doing a pop-up shop in the Welles Emporium building on Merrimack St.  Several of the Mill No. 5 shops including Red Antler Apothecary, One Urban Tribe, Over the Spoon, The Tone Loft, and Serpentine Books will be selling stuff there. If you've never been to Mill No. 5, this is a great chance to check out some of vendors. I'm told that Coffee and Cotton will be serving iced coffee and treats too!

A walk along Merrimack Street will show you a whole lot of what makes Lowell exciting with a showcase of cultural and and sports organizations presented as Destination Lowell. The street fills up with reasons to come to Lowell. From Lowell Celebrates Kerouac to the Lowell Kinetic Sculpture Race, you're sure to find a reason to come back again.

The Famous Lobster Roll Repping the Lowell Kinetic Sculpture Race at the 2018 Folk Festival

Mass Innovation Night #MIN123 Recap

This month's Mass Innovation Nights event, MIN #123,  drew a wide variety of advanced textile manufacturing and other apparel products and innovators to IndusPAD in Lawrence on Wednesday, June 12. Our hosts and sponsors for the night were IndusPAD and Lawrence Partnership. The products showcased ranged from practical and fashionable key wallets to a line of underwear designed to enable patients to manage leg bags and tubing comfortably and discreetly. There was a decent crowd despite sharing the night with Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. (This is the Merrimack Valley -- we take both hockey and entrepreneurship very seriously.)

IndusPAD aka Former Polartec Plant

I didn't manage to visit every product table, but made it to most of them. My blog post attempts to capture what I experienced.

Our four presenters for the night, chosen ahead of time by audience voting on the Mass Innovation Nights website, were:

• Hope Sews
• Magnomer
• Keysie
• CathWear

Hope Sews combines both Ghanian and western clothing styles into a chic, modern style that they call cross-cultural fashion.  The clothing is made from authentic Ghanaian fabrics and prints by seamstresses in rural areas of Ghana. A percentage of each purchase goes toward providing seamstresses with micro-finance loans to buy electric sewing machines to scale their businesses. Hope Sews sees its mission as empowering women through fashion.

Hope Sews
Presenting

I remebered Magnomer from an EforAll pitch contest in 2018 (didn't get to blog about them then because my computer was in the shop for weeks -- don't ask). Anyway, I am impressed with their magnetic coatings technology for plastic packaging. The coatings are used on packaging where the labels get in the way of recycling.  For example, shrink sleeves for bottles. By automating and simplifying the separation of the labels from the plastic in the recycling process they not only make recycling way easier but also increase the recycling yield. Their Design2Recycle™ concept for thinking about production makes it easier for consumer brands to increase bottle recycling without having to change the bottle manufacturing process. The difference is in the magnetizable inks for the labels.

Magnomer Showcasing Labels on Plastic Bottles

The Keysie Key Wallet caught my eye right away. Who hasn't had the "where are my keys?" experience? Rather than relying on one of those beeper things to locate your keys, Keysie keeps you from misplacing your keys in the first place. It's compact and well-designed to hold keys, frequently used credit cards, and your ID.   And you don't have to unhook it to put the key in the lock either. It's really cool-looking too.

Keysie Clips Right onto your Bag

Lawrence-based CathWear got my vote for audience choice winner immediately.  It's such an elegant solution for managing catheter bags and tubes safely and discreetly. I enjoyed talking with the inventor, Brian Mohika, a nurse who came up with the idea after watching patients struggling with managing leg bags. CathWear is underwear that looks like boxer briefs with pockets to hold the catheter bags. There's also a channel to hold the tubes in order to prevent inadvertent pulling.  Everything stays in place,  the bags and tubes don't irritate the patient's skin, there are no more irritating and unsanitary velcro straps, and best of all nobody will notice it under your clothes. It restores privacy and dignity. That's a game changer for people who have to wear leg bags to work or school every day.

Demonstrating CathWear

Terracea's jackets -- insulated and non-insulated -- were getting a lot of audience attention. The idea that you can wear the same clothing for outdoor adventures and urban streets and stay warm and dry as well as looking good is pretty cool. The Fall/Winter 2019 outerwear collection gets you through your weekday commute and your snowboarding weekend through all the weather that New England has to offer. Waterproof, comfortable, windproof, durable urban-to-outdoor clothing can handle it all. With a helmet-compatible hood, plenty of pockets (there's even an interior phone pocket with a media port) and nice snug wrist gaiters, you'll be ready for adventure on the slopes  as soon as you get off work.

Terracea

IG MODA leggings, tops, and accessories feature unique designs based on Irina Gorbman's original art. The color combinations are designed to evoke a meditative vibe that makes people smile and energizes the body from within. I can imagine such vibrant patterns kicking up my workout a notch.

IG Moda

Southwick is an established brand with a factory based in Haverhill. Southwick's understated elegance and fine workmanship has been synonymous with authentic American style since 1929.  They are the flagship factory for Brooks Brothers Made-in-America clothing. 

Southwick Jacket with Classic American Soft Shoulder Design

They had some of their Fashion Tailored Clothing Jackets on display at their table. I have to say I liked the silver one, which was a custom design for one of their clients.

Southwick Silver Jacket

The gunaPAJAMA is a soft and cozy baby pajama with an innovative zipper for easy diaper change. No snaps! The bamboo viscose material feels soft to the touch and wicks moisture too. I liked the way the simple practicality of the zipper and the comfortableness of the fabric combine for the easiest diaper change ever.

gunaPAJAMA

The Acadia Chukka Boot from T.B. Phelps feels soft to the touch and looks great. They get the luxurious feel with natural organic finishes hand-applied on vegetable-tanned American Deerskin. Pair that look with a matching Torrence Deerskin belt made in Haverhill and you'll look great.

T.B. Phelps Boots and Accessories

Congratulations to the audience choice winners for the night -- all well-deserved:

CathWear − Grand Prize

Hope Sews

Keysie

Terracea

The Audience Choice Winners Posing with the Night's Sponsors

The Experts Corner featured an outstanding lineup of experts: Larry Andrews from Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation, Francisco J. Martinez, CTO of  Mission Ready Solutions, and Lianna Kushi, Executive Director of EforAll Lowell-Lawrence.  Each of them shared extremely useful insights both in their talks and at their tables in the Experts Corner.

One of the high points for me was Francisco Martinez's inspiring story of arriving in Lawrence as a 19 year old immigrant from Colombia, starting out at Polartec cleaning factory floors and working his way up to division manager, then on to launching a successful business of his own producing military clothing (Protect The Force LLC now merged with Mission Ready Solutions).  Yes, as a Polartec employee he worked at this very spot that is now IndusPAD. So many elements of the resilience of the Merrimack Valley flowed through Francisco's story that I found it amazingly inspiring.

Francisco Sharing His Expertise in the Experts Corner

The after party was right in the next room and featured a giant paella. People were already lining up for paella before 8:30!

The After Party About to Get Started

The Experts Corner is a popular part of MIN events and my traditional Experts Looking Expert photos have become popular as well. This month's Experts Looking Expert shot features two amazing expert women of the Merrimack Valley: Lianna Kushi, Executive Director of EforAll Lowell-Lawrence and Marianne Paley Nadel, owner of Everett Mills Real Estate. This is what experts look like!

Experts Looking Expert