Fun for kids and adults Thursday at SW!TCH in Hyde Park

On Thursday,the SW!TCH will feature two events,one geared for grade-schoolers and another just for the grownups.

From 3:30 to 5 p.m., the Menino Arts Center will host a holiday crafts and chorus event for about 50 children from grades four to six led by local artist Sasja Lucas, an exhibit and animation fabricator as well as an educator.

The Roosevelt Elementary School Children’s Choir will perform at the beginning of the event, then the children will be invited to make holiday decorations to take home.
The crafts time is open to any children who would like to join in the fun. Building owner Pat Tierney, 68, who also owns the Tierney Realty Group, said all are welcome.

“The kids can come; there’s room for more. We can even spill into my office, too, if we get a ton of kids,” Tierney said.

Then, from 6:30 to 8:30, the SW!TCH’s Fairmount Avenue neighbor Albert Winestein will host a wine-tasting in the space.

The SW!TCH held its first event just a few days ago, when children were invited to get a free photo with Santa Claus on Nov. 28. Tierney, 68, explained that her goal is to use the new space to promote the arts and community involvement.

“There was a vacant storefront in my building that I wasn’t having luck renting to a tenant that was going to stay and add to the neighborhood,” Tierney said. “Pretty much nobody wanted it. So I redid the inside of it, and I called it the SW!TCH, and I’m letting nonprofits use it for nothing, and it switches from one thing to another.”