By Michelle Fountain, Standard Correspondent
The grass is mowed, the day lilies are blooming, the river access is open, and plans have been confirmed for the next three phases of development of the East End Park. When complete, the park will feature an amphitheater, a slide down the hill, a vine-covered pergola for shade, picnic tables, benches, and assorted shrubs, flowers, and trees.
The plans for this park have been progressing for some time and were finalized after a meeting this winter to get community input. They will be displayed this Saturday, Aug. 5, at 10 a.m. at the First Annual Sustainable Woodstock Duck Derby.
Numbered rubber ducks will be launched from the Elm Street Bridge in a race down to the park at the east end of the village (ducks can be purchased from the Woodstock Recreation Center, Sustainable Woodstock and various other locations for $5 which benefits park work).
There will be prizes for the fastest ducks that range from a stay at the Woodstock Inn to dinner at 506 On the River, Pilates Classes, Danforth Pewter items and more. In addition to the duck races, there will also be cake and live music.
“This is a public park but it is hidden,” Sustainable Woodstock Director Sally Miller said. “The goal is to get people down there to see what we are going to do.”
“It’s been a slow but very steady process,” Landscape Architect Jack Rossi said of the work at the park. There were major set backs with land loss due to(TropicalStorm) Irene(in 2011) and the plan had to be reconsidered and reconfigured.”
The current park is approximately 2.3 acres and represents one of the few public places from which people can launch a kayak/canoe or otherwise access the Ottauquechee River.
Key this year is that the village’s snow dump has been moved to off of Maxham Meadow way so for the first time, the park will not be under extra snow and salt all winter. Sustainable Woodstock and its East End Action Group were the driving force behind getting the grant and raising the matching funds to build the new snow dump as well as the establishment and development of the park.
East End Action Group member Joby Thompson sees the park as “a wonderful new hub to draw people to the East End” calling it “a real gathering place” as she describes picnics and performances that
can take place in the park as well as the kayaks that can be launched from there.
The first of the three phases to complete the park will be done within the next 18 months. This includes planting (including apple trees on the hill and an edible garden), drainage work, several paths (including one along the river), picnic tables, stone benches and a bike rack at a cost of $75-100,000. A Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation grant will help start the work, according to Miller, and fundraising is ongoing to make all of the work possible. Later additions will include a slide along the grade from the parking lot above down to the park, a pergola, an amphitheater that can seat 100-125 people for performances etc. and more. Rossi estimates total costs to be $350 375,000. “We are trying to work with the state and others to get handicapped accessible river access,” Miller says. She notes all of this work as “another step in the process for the East End.” She points out that the Alsup family has renovated their properties and her group has received a grant to study other possibilities for East End revitalization. As a start, Sustainable Woodstock will get a fundraising team together soon to figure out how to raise the funds to finish all phases of the park construction. They will also offer some volunteer opportunities to help with some of the work.
“It’s been a very satisfying community effort and we still have a long way to go,” Rossi says noting the many people who have worked and contributed financially to make this possible.
Go check the current park out and learn of the plans for its future this Saturday at 10 a.m. (below the Village Park and Ride area across from The Laundry Room).
This article first appeared in the August 3, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.