Bonfire block party at the 603
“When you drive by,” Kellyn Thompson said, “there’s a big field out behind the brewery. They’re clearing the snow, and they actually have started stacking pallets. We take these wooden pallets, stack them — we’re doing two — and we’ll light them, one at 5 p.m. and one at around 7 p.m. So one while the sun is still up, one after the sun has gone down. It’s really just the coolest. It’s just a huge, huge bonfire.”
Thompson is the creative director of 603 Brewery in Londonderry, which is hosting its second annual Fire on Main event across the street from the brewery on Saturday, Feb. 7. She said the bonfire is 603’s vision of a winter block party.
“In addition to the bonfires we will line Main Street. We blockade this whole street out front, and then we bring in local food trucks and food and beverage vendors. They’ll set up shop along the street. There will be a giant beer tent so people can come get drinks. The beer hall will be open with our regular food and beer specials. And there will be a DJ doing live mixing. The owner of Fire N Gin brings a vintage fire truck and parks it right in the middle of the street. He’ll put up some string lights, which is also a really cool [picture to take] because you’ve got this vintage fire truck and then you can pan over to this giant bonfire.”
“In addition,” Thompson said, “we’ll have some burn barrels — picture metal barrels just scattered throughout, so people can warm up and hang out around a smaller fire that’s, you know, less dangerous. This year we’ll have two of these and then we have firefighters who are volunteering to come and light the fire in a safe way. A group of firefighters will have a table. They’ll sell merch, and they’re fundraising for muscular dystrophy awareness. On this street behind us, there’s a tattoo studio inside of this building. So they will be open, doing flash tattoos, which just means they’re small, kind of quick, and cheaper tattoo options, so you can go over there and in 20 minutes for between $50 and $100 get a tattoo. It’s fun and gives you a little bit of respite from the cold.”
Thompson said last year’s inaugural event was extremely successful.
“The outcome totally blew us away,” she said. “I think we had expected maybe 2,000 people and we got over 4,500 people. So it was really epic. I think it really just gives people something to do in this dead of winter that doesn’t involve skiing or having a ton of gear or knowing how to do anything. I remember when this idea was first pitched, the reaction was sort of like, ’OK, so a bonfire — that’s not that revolutionary.’ But then when you saw it all come together and like you saw all of the different moving parts, and then when you saw the turnout and just that many people kind of all coming together, to see this big thing happen, it was just really cool.”
2nd annual Fire on Main bonfire
When: Saturday, Feb. 7, from 3 to 9 p.m.
Where: 603 Brewery, 42 Main St., Londonderry, 404-6123, 603brewery.com
Vendors will include Dead Proof Pizza, Wagon Wheels Mini Donuts, Teeny Weenies, Ken and Mimi’s Gourmet Snacks (formerly Ken’s Corn), Tin Can Co, Fire N Gin, and Barking Sisters Coffee. 603 Brewery has released a special edition Fire on Main smoked beer to mark the occasion, available on tap or in four-packs inside the brewery.
