neighbors who live in the vicinity of the park. With live music, local art, and free hot dogs, the festival attracts
people from nearby communities, but also as far away as Boston and New Hampshire. This year the festival
celebrates the 25th anniversary of Tyler Park being designated a historic district by the City of Lowell, and the
festival will have special focus on helping people take action on climate change.
One of the things that will put focus on climate change is the participation of more than twenty college students
who will spend six weeks bicycling across Massachusetts providing education about climate change and
supporting climate-related community projects. The bicyclists are part of a program organized by Better Future
Project, called Climate Summer. The bicyclists will travel across Massachusetts in four teams, each team taking
its own route so they can visit as many communities as possible.
The Tyler Park Festival will also mark the formal start-up of a Lowell-based presence of the grass-roots climate
activist network, 350 Massachusetts, also known as 350MA. Lowell residents have been planning to bring
350MA to Lowell for months. The Lowell-presence for 350MA will make it easier for people in Lowell to stay
up to date with climate issues and take action to slow climate change.
Kevin Dillon, one of the residents coordinating the formal start-up of 350MA said, “Climate change is an
extremely urgent matter. Now the residents of Lowell will be more able to work together, and join with others
across the state via the 350MA network, to have a bigger impact in confronting this climate crisis.”
"It's especially appropriate that we bring formal 350MA presence to Lowell on the anniversary of being designated a historic neighborhood," said Jay Mason, a resident of the Tyler Park Neighborhood and 350MA-enthusiast, "Lowell has a history of successfully adapting to changing circumstances, and now our history of adaptation can help others understand the need for change in response to the climate crisis."
Scott Wright, a recent graduate of University of Massachusetts Lowell said, “There is immense concern about
the climate among young people, but people of all ages are joining in the fight to get our whole society to start
doing the right thing, to stop dumping carbon into the atmosphere.”
Live music at the Tyler Park Festival will be provided by local musical entertainers, Merrimack Bend, and art
work will be provided by the Zeitgeist Gallery, located at 167 Market Street in Lowell.
Better Future Project accelerates the growth of a powerful grassroots movement to address the climate crisis
and make stronger, healthier, and more resilient communities by advancing a rapid and responsible transition
beyond fossil fuels. More information: www.betterfutureproject.org
350 Massachusetts is Better Future Project’s statewide volunteer-led climate action network. 350
Massachusetts organizes and executes grassroots campaigns that advance a just transition away from fossil fuels
toward sustainable energy practices and an atmospheric carbon-dioxide concentration of less than 350 parts per
million. More information: www.350ma.org. 350 Massachusetts is aligned with 350.org but is separate from 350.org
and not financed by 350.org