Andover to commemorate 5-year-old girl killed at intersection

Families across Mass. are invited to Andover on Saturday, May 11, to learn more about key facets of livability. The family-friendly event, Sidney’s Rainbow Day, follows the death of 5-year-old Sidney Mae Olson last May — she was killed by a tractor-trailer while on her way to art class on a scooter at the Elm Square intersection.

Starting at 10 a.m., the streets behind the Old Town Hall will close. Visitors can enjoy live music and arts and crafts until 1:30 p.m. that afternoon. A rainbow-themed scooter and bike parade kicks off at noon.

The event also features a “wheels garden” to teach children and their families about safe ways to ride.

The Sidney Mae Olson Rainbow Fund, which is putting on the event with the town, was created by the Olson family to generate “safer, more livable towns.”

Eric Olson is the father of Sidney and the president of the fund.

“People knew her as the girl who rode her scooter from shop to shop, bouncy curls flowing behind her,” he said in a written statement. “Every kid deserves that kind of freedom, but her death showed that few towns are designed to support it.”

Olson described the experience of losing his daughter as “a wakeup call.” Now, the Rainbow Fund works with organizations like WalkBike Andover to improve the safety of streets.

The fund identified three areas of major advocacy, including redesigning roads with bike lanes and sidewalks, enforcing a 25 mph speed limit, and addressing safety with large vehicles.

Olson’s mother, Mary Beth Ellis, is the vice president of the Rainbow Fund.

“I’ve been fortunate to live in other countries where families walk, bike, and gather safely in town squares,” she said in a statement. “Better solutions exist — and everyone benefits.”