Hopkinton MA 300th Anniversary

August 19, 2015

During the Hopkinton 300th Anniversary “Light up the Night” Community Celebration on Saturday, September 12th, we will be offering an interactive photo project called “Dear Hopkinton” for open participation by all members of our community. This project concept was “loaned” to us by Robert Fogarty, the creator of the original project, “Dear World” dearworld.me.  Fogarty developed “Dear World” in 2009 following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. He hoped to create an opportunity for the citizens of New Orleans to become a visual and active part of their city’s recovery through “personal love notes” to their city. He asked the people of New Orleans to share stories of strength, their struggle and hopes for a brighter day through personal messages written on their body in the photographs.

Dear World-New Orleans was an incredible success which prompted to Fogarty to take his unique project all over the world in the past six years to give a special voice to survivors of other disasters and personal conflicts.  Dear World has photographed the personal messages from New York after Hurricane Sandy, and Joplin, MO after the tornado.  One year after the Boston Marathon bombings, the Dear World: Boston Marathon project asked survivors and responders to return to the finish line to share their thoughts.  To see photos from Dear World: Boston Marathon, click here.

Fogarty has now shared Dear World with corporate America in many of their employee events, local communities and social causes throughout the world. Dear World is part business/art project/social experiment. Everyone has a special meaningful message to share with family, friends and even strangers.

Fogarty kindly loaned us his concept which we have entitled “Dear Hopkinton” as a salute from our citizens in Hopkinton in honor of our 300th Anniversary year. We will have volunteer photographers at our “Light up the Night” Event from 4-8pm on Sept. 12th. There will be 4 photo stations set up at the Doyle gym.  Residents will be asked to participate in the photos individually or as a group and write short, personal “love notes” to Hopkinton. These messages can be a personal statement, messages for our future generations, or something you love about our great town.

All the photos will then be compiled into a large mosaic mural with a 300 image and be donated to the town for display at a designated location for all community members to enjoy.

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