From a book fair to a town parade, shes giving neighbors reason to gather [Video]

Julia Coady is a familiar face in town. Not just because she has run the Greene Village Day celebration since 2021, but because of how she builds community all year.

Coady, 36, brought back the scholastic book fair to Greene, restored hiking trails and has made a traditional town parade possible every summer. Recently, she was also a poll worker.

Coady wants others to have the sense of community she had as a young girl in Connecticut with working-class parents who made time to connect with their neighbors.

“If you build it, they will come,” Coady believes. “I’m trying to emulate that here in Greene and in the surrounding towns, especially with everything going on after the pandemic. Times haven’t been easy.”

Coady moved to Maine for a job after college a little over a decade ago and fell in love with a Mainer. They decided to call Greene home. …