Here's One Way to Keep Main Street Garden Nice and Tidy: Shoot a National Nerf Ad

Photo by Anna Merlan

​If you were were strolling through Main Street Garden late this afternoon, perhaps accompanied by Angela Hunt and a homeless acquaintance or pausing to let your dog take a leisurely crap on its spacious green lawns, you may have seen a group of increasingly sweaty teenage boys running towards a camera over and over again, each of them clutching what looked like a large orange machine gun.

In case you were wondering what was that about, as some Friends of Unfair Park were: Hasbro Toys hired a production company to film a new Nerf commercial downtown. They're wrapping up shooting later on tonight.

"This an unbelievable place," Francis McIntyre, the location scout and production assistant for the project, told Unfair Park. "It really feels wonderful," which is why Hasbro wanted to shoot here. Also, it was free: The city waives permit fees for shoots at Main Street Garden, such as today's commercial, which depicts a mob of around 60 people running through downtown and arriving there.

The production company also rented out a couple rooms at the Hotel Indigo down the street, where they took any actors or crew who looked like they were about to spontaneously combust from the heat. They also had iced-down bandannas, lots of water and an EMT on-site.