‘Dinner and a Show’ connects downtown Waltham

Light pours through the big windows in the main gallery at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation. It illuminates the historical artifacts from Waltham’s rich industrial history, as well as a Ford Model T, linotype machine and other devices and appliances scattered throughout the room.

Every couple of weeks from September to May, those machines — in addition to the museum’s loom machine — share the limelight with live performers. Started in 2016, the “2nd Shift Series” attracts a diverse array of musicians to the museum. In 2018 the museum began its “Dinner and a Show” program, which merges the seasonal slate of live performers with local restaurants.

“The idea was to kind of give back a little bit to some of the restaurants,” Joe Niedbala, director of operations at the museum, said.

The program is mutually beneficial and simple. Niedbala distributes flyers for upcoming performances to participating restaurants. The restaurants help spread the word about the events, and the museum incentivizes ticket holders to visit their partnering restaurants with discounts on their meals.

“It’s about getting people aware of how much we like our local restaurants,” Niedbala said about “Dinner and a Show.” “And hopefully [they go] whenever, not just the nights of the shows.”

During the spring 2025 season, Bistro781 is offering a half-price appetizer with the purchase of an entree, and Vinotta and Sweet Basil offer 15% off the ticket holder’s meal. The discount is only valid for a meal before the show, Niedbala said, to prevent people from coming in around the restaurant’s closing time. His goal is to maintain this initiative as a low-lift option for restaurants and remain considerate of the restaurants’ needs.

“We’re really kind of in the same business of hospitality,” Niedbala said. “We’re in a history hospitality business, and they’re in a culinary hospitality business, but it’s all about enriching the experience of the people who come to us.”

Greg Dibella, general manager at Sweet Basil, said the  restaurant has been participating in the program for four or five years and has formed a friendly connection to both the museum and Niedbala. “We like to support them, and they have always supported us,” Dibella said about the partnership.

Dine Aid

During the pandemic, especially, restaurants all over the city needed all the help they could get.

In 2021, with struggling restaurants seemingly on every corner and hundreds of employees out of work, the museum developed Dine Aid  — while the museum remained empty, patrons watched the musician series from their homes.

Attendees donated to the Dine Aid cause and proceeds were split evenly between the performers — musicians like Waltham’s own Alan Arena and Watch City Blues — the museum and Dine Aid Waltham, which split donations between the Waltham Waiters COVID Relief GoFundMe and directly to the local restaurants.

Niedbala remembers dropping off the checks to local servers following the musician series. Some people thought there was a catch, but others were touched by the gesture.

Niedbala said that at some of the restaurants “we’d walk in, and I’d explain through my lousy Spanish and their broken English … what it was and have these people tear up and hug me.”

This history of holding each other up during difficult times goes both ways.

“Community benefits community,” Niedbala said.

Resiliency of the museum

About 10 years ago the museum was in financial trouble. Founder and former president of The Elephant Walk restaurant group, Bob Perry, was brought on as executive director, a title he still holds, to help turn the museum around.

Through the support of a host of businesses and individuals, the museum went from “people going, ‘We thought you closed years ago,’ to ‘What’s going on there tomorrow night?’” Niedbala said.

Local restaurants served at the forefront of that effort. They donated food for fundraising events and provided support in whatever way they could.

“It’s the restaurant community as a whole that has been immensely supportive of this museum for decades and decades,” Niedbala said.

Moving forward

There are two more performances before “2nd Shift Series” closes for the season: Michael Tarbox, the original curator of the series, performs a solo set on Thursday, April 10, and country singer Laura Cantrell performs on Thursday, May 1.