50th Annual Franklin Newcomers & Friends Craft Fair November 8th at Tri-County

By Judith Dorato O’Gara

All good things must come to an end, and after 54 years, the Franklin Newcomers & Friends will disband, handing off the reins of their annual Craft Fair fundraiser to the Rotary Club of Franklin, MA. The 50th and final Annual Franklin Newcomers and Friends Craft Fair will be held on Saturday, November 8, 2025, from 9-3 at Tri-County High School, 147 Pond St., Franklin, with a $3 entry fee for those 12 and older.

Franklin Newcomers was “a great way to meet people in real time,” says Anne Parker, who’s been a Newcomers member for about 15 years. She’s made some good friends through the social group, but membership has waned in recent years, she says. 

Terri Attinello echoes the sentiment.

“It’s changed a lot in the last 10 years, and then, since COVID, people just don’t want to commit to things. Our membership is way down,” says Attinello, who shifted to Newcomers from the Franklin Moms group once her children were in school, around 2006. “When I joined, membership was over 150 people, and now we probably have 10-15 people,” says Attinello, “We’re all friends, and we’d do things together whether we had a club or not. It seems silly to keep the club going.

Franklin Newcomers & Friends began in 1971 by Fran Kober. She moved to Franklin from New Jersey and was very disappointed to learn there was no Newcomers Club in town, so she placed an ad in the paper to meet other new residents to the town. She received five replies, and the next ad she placed encouraged new people to come meet and socialize. Twenty people responded, and the Franklin Newcomers & Friends group was born.

Community service was also an integral aspect of the club. Proceeds from the Newcomers’ Craft Fair would not only fund club events and outings, but members would vote on and give annual donations to such local Franklin organizations as the Random Smile Project, Franklin Food Pantry, the 4th of July Coalition, The Santa Foundation, Fish of Franklin, and the SAFE Coalition, among others.

The group did other fundraisers as well. Blanca DiGiacomo, who made many friends in Newcomers and spent time on its board, was lead decorator in the group’s Holiday House Tours fundraiser. Although not a member anymore, the interior designer says, “I am so grateful I joined and was active in the club for many years … To this day we still go out to dinner with friends we met at the Newcomers. It was a great way to meet people in town you felt you had things in common with.” She felt good, too, supporting community causes.

As Newcomers hands off its biggest fundraiser, members of the Newcomers will work with Rotary members this year and next for a smooth transition.

“We are having (Rotary) shadow us for the remaining things we’re doing to prepare,” says Attinello. Rotary members will also be involved on the day of the event. 

“They will be running it next year, with a little bit of support from us,” says Attinello, who is sad, but concedes the event had become too much for the dwindling group. “It’s a great fundraiser, and Rotary doesn’t have a huge fundraiser like this, so it’s a win-win,” she says.

Rotary of Franklin, MA Co-President Diane Padula says the fundraiser aligns perfectly with her club’s core values. “Everything they were doing was similar. They were doing their fun things and giving back to the community, all the different things that we do. It was just a good fit.”

Although the next Rotary Car Show is coming up on October 4, 2025 at New England Chapel, moving forward, Rotary will shift that event to the spring to accommodate the Craft Fair.

For more information about this year’s Craft Fair visit https://www.facebook.com/FranklinNewcomersCraftFair/.

For more information about The Rotary Club of Franklin, visit https://franklinmarotary.org/in/home/.