Free repair workshops and a holiday decor swap come to Keith Middle School in New Bedford on Saturday
No registration is needed. Bring a torn shirt, a dull knife or a chair cushion, and drop off holiday decorations you no longer use from 8 to 11 a.m.
NEW BEDFORD Anyone can learn to mend clothes, sharpen kitchen knives and fix up worn furniture for free on Saturday, Nov. 7, at a Community Repair and Swap Day in the Keith Middle School Community Room, 225 Hathaway Blvd. The Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District, which runs the Crapo Hill Landfill, is holding the event from 10 a.m. to noon, along with a Holiday Decor Swap where people can trade seasonal decorations they no longer use.
No registration is required, everyone is welcome, and people do not need to bring anything to take something home from the swap, the district says. It calls the day the biggest event yet in its Fix It Forward series, which it started this year for New Bedford and Dartmouth residents.
The workshops
Four workshops run during the morning, and people can go to any of them. A furniture repair and refinishing session is a live demonstration of wood furniture restoration, covering repairs, sanding and finishing. The upholstery workshop shows how to cover chairs and cushions, and the district invites people to bring a cushion or a wood chair with a small cushion to work on.
At the clothing mending table, people can bring a piece of clothing, an accessory or a stuffed animal with a tear and learn to thread a needle, sew on a button and make simple repairs, with materials provided. The knife care and sharpening workshop covers sharpening and caring for kitchen knives and scissors, and each person can bring up to five to be sharpened.
The holiday decor swap
Drop-off for the swap runs from 8 to 11 a.m., and shopping is open from 10 a.m. to noon. The district takes clean, dry, gently used decorations from any holiday or season: wreaths, ornaments, lights, centerpieces, seasonal tableware and linens, costumes and small holiday trees up to 3 feet tall. It cannot take large items, inflatables, or anything broken, dirty or moldy.
Why the district runs it
"Repairing and reusing items helps people save money, learn new skills, and extend the life of everyday items," Marissa Perez-Dormitzer, the district's waste reduction manager, said in a release Monday. "As part of our Fix It Forward series, we're bringing local experts and community members together to share repair skills and reuse opportunities."
The series started March 31 with a mending, darning and patching workshop at the Howland Green Branch Library and has since offered knife sharpening and fabric dyeing, bicycle repair, jewelry repair and, on Oct. 3, the Japanese stitching technique called sashiko, according to the district's workshop page. Saturday's event is offered with the New Bedford Free Public Library and Mali Lim, and the repair workshops are paid for in part by an Art is Everywhere! grant from the City of New Bedford's Arts, Culture and Tourism Fund, facilitated by New Bedford Creative at the New Bedford Economic Development Council.
Questions
Perez-Dormitzer takes questions at 508-979-1493, by text at 774-503-0254 or at marissa@gnbrrmdistrict.org. The district's Nov. 2 release links to a flyer for the event, and its Free Repair Workshops page lists the workshops and what the swap accepts.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every detail of the event, the workshops, the swap rules, the partners and the grant comes from the Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District's own Free Repair Workshops page, and the quotes come word for word from the release the district posted and sent Monday. We read them on Nov. 2. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar: Nov. 7, 2026, is a Saturday and March 31 was a Tuesday.
Corrections
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Sources (2)
- Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District, Free Repair Workshops (Fix It Forward): Community Repair and Swap Day, Nov. 7, 2026Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District (page modified Oct. 29, 2026). Date, time, place, cost, no registration, the four workshops, swap hours, accepted and refused items, partners, grant, contacts and the earlier workshops. Read Nov. 2, 2026.
- Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District, release: Community Repair & Swap Day Coming to New Bedford on November 7 (Nov. 2, 2026)Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District, posted Nov. 2, 2026, and sent to news@southcoast360.com the same day. Marissa Perez-Dormitzer's two quoted sentences, word for word; the district and Mali Lim as organizers. Read Nov. 2, 2026.