BROOKLINE – The town of Brookline will be showing its pride this weekend, as it celebrates 250 years of existence.

The weekend-long celebration lineup includes a spaghetti dinner at the Brookline Fire Station with a Family Street Dance to follow from 5-7 p.m. on Friday Saturday will feature a library open house from 9 a.m. to noon, followed by a parade at 2 p.m. and a fireworks show at Lake Potanipo beginning at dusk.

As part of the festivities, local artist and history aficionado Mark Fountain will host an art show at Daniels Academy, the academy where he attended school in the 1960s, located at 1 Main St.

His art show will run from 1-4 p.m. Saturday.

“I think my sixth-grade art teacher Mr. (James) Locke, one of my early art teachers, would be pleased,” Fountain said. “I hope people think of me as someone who loves pictures and history. I love Brookline and this 250th anniversary celebration is something I’ve been aiming for. To think years ago, I took art lessons after school from a guy named Arnold McNeil in a house right up the street from Daniels Academy. Now, I have my own show here.”

Fountain will be showcasing 25 paintings on Saturday, many of them Brookline-themed, along with other canvas prints and art paper/cards. His work represents years of crafting and fine-tuning.

“I’ve always been interested in portraying things from the past, never captured on film,” Fountain said.

His collection for Saturday includes a painting of Lawrence Corey’s old Railroad Station Snack Bar, a Brookline staple that he recalled was on the route that used to go to the Ice House at Lake Potanipo.

“We used to go there after school, play pinball, get Cokes,” Fountain said. “Everybody in Brookline knew about the snack bar.”

Fountain has been a lifelong lover of all things art, particularly history and Brookline-related. According to his biography, Fountain studied at the New England School of Art in Boston, at The Arts and Science Center and Rivier University in Nashua.

Fountain’s artwork has appeared in many local art shows through the years.

His biography states that in April 2018, his oil painting of Concord’s North Bridge appeared opposite the title page in award-winning historian George C. Daughan’s book, “Lexington and Concord, The Battle Heard Round the World.”

Fountain’s recent work surrounds illustrations for the H.G. Wells novel, “The Time Machine,” where he has created 40 pen and ink drawings, as well as 18 oil paintings.

To learn more on the history of Brookline, visit https://brooklinehistory.org/250th-committee-research/250th-anniversary/.

Grace Pecci may be reached at 594-1243 or gpecci@nashuatelegraph.com.