On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

On Saturday, June 28th, Trum Field was transformed into Kids World. The newly (and beautifully) reconstructed Trum Field, that is. It was the Mayor’s Family Fun Day – and it was just that – fun. There were inflatable bouncy things, obstacle courses and watermelon eating contests. There was a dunk tank where Mayor Joe allowed himself to be drenched, all in the name of fun. You could even get your face painted. After their first shoeless bounce, my kids gave me their saturated (from wet grass) filthy socks to hold (yuck). They went shoeless for the rest of the afternoon.

There were endless hot dogs and cheeseburgers – along with drinks, frozen juice bars and fruit – what a spread! I bumped into Joe Constantine from Somerville Cable who was with a crew catching family fun moments on film – when the camera turned to me, of course I had to overdo it as usual. Joe Curtatone was next to me drying up from his stint in the dunk tank, so I took off on a parody of the ‚ÄúBeefaroni‚Äù commercial: ‚Äúhis name is Curtatone, he don’t take no baloney – Curtatone paved my street, Curtatone fixed my leak – hooray‚Ķfor Curtatone!‚Äù

Mayor Joe sure knows how to throw a good time – one of the highlights of the afternoon was when Joe’s three oldest son’s (he has four boys if you didn’t already know) laughingly invited dad to chase them around the field – Joe was busy at his most important job – being a father. He really enjoyed playing with his sons and if he keeps up at this rate, he will have his own baseball team soon.

Joe Galvin, Jack Fitzgerald and Rich Casey gave everyone a thrilling chance to climb the “Hook and Ladder.” The excited crowd swarmed over to scale Ladder 3.

Families were enjoying themselves on a day when the humidity took a powder and the skies were dry. I saw a lot of the parents from my kids’ school. We were only one week into summer vacation, but some were stressing about keeping the kids busy. Thankfully, there are a lot of activities that kids can get in on around the city.

Family fun day years ago may have been a trip to Norumbega Park in Newton (now a Marriot Hotel I think) Рit was also the home of The Totem Pole Ballroom. Frank Sinatra, Lawrence Welk, Ozzie Nelson, Benny Goodman and the Dorsey Brothers all performed there at one time or another. A real thrill was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then going on the “Caterpillar.” We picnicked near the water and fed the ducks.

Paragon Park was kind of far, but I do recall turning in those matchbook covers that offered a discount on admission Рdo you remember those? And lets not forget “Pleasure Island, Home of Moby Dick” in Wakefield. The fierce “beast” used to rise up and spurt a gusher of water. Moby was actually a huge sort of oil tank painted to look like the ferocious mammal. The Three Stooges actually did a live appearance at Pleasure Island! When I first discovered Moby Dick was a hunk of hollowed out rusty metal, it was family bum day.

My friend Chuckie’s family fun day was piling the family into the car and spending a day at the old stand-by – Revere Beach. It’s too bad that a few times his family, with their Nova Scotia ancestry, came home red, burnt and hurting – for them that was family too much sun-day.

A day of family fun at Canobie Lake today may set you back some serious scratch – but Family Fun Day at Trum Field cost me nada and the kids had a blast – so did I. I got to talk with retired Somerville Firefighter Tony McDaid and his lovely wife Peggy – who were there with their family. Proud grandpa Tony used to work with my Uncle Joe, also a fireman and a glass guy – Uncle Joe was the real entertainer in the family – nobody could tell a story and hold an audience like him. Tony also knew my father, Fred and my cousins, the Artones from Skehan St. We talked for a good half hour, and to me that was good for the heart. When you live in a city your whole life, it’s amazing how many of the same people you know – Tony and I could have talked all day.

So the kids got to have a blast, I got to talk to some great people, and there is such thing as a free lunch. I was glad we went to Family Fun Day, because it was a lot of‚Ķfun. Special thanks to His Honor and all the city workers who helped make Saturday a real special day. By the way, I tossed those grass-stained, dirty socks in the trash – I’d rather throw them out than shout them out.

Please e-mail your comments to Jimmy at: jimmydel@rcn.com