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Drawing of the new Rotary Park sign. 

 

The Rotary clock

 

 

By Linda Lemmon

Town Crier Editor

PUTNAM --- With a little bit of patience --- and fencing, the Putnam Rotary Park will be transformed in time for America's birthday.

April 19, hydroseeding at the Kennedy Drive park will begin. Willie Bousquet, Recreation Department director, said protective fencing around the park will stay up until the fireworks celebration July 1.

The fencing will protect the new grass seed and other projects at the park, a shared effort between the town and the Putnam Rotary Club. 

Several projects at the park will be finished around the July 1 reopening of the park, Bousquet. The Putnam Rotary Club donated the cost of the irrigation project which was completed last fall. Bousquet said the hydroseeding company has gotten its hands on a certain amount of a grass blend that can take punishment --- it is used in ballparks and athletic fields. Other grasses will be blended in, giving the park a sturdy, nice looking lawn. The grass will cover the same area the new irrigation does: from the backside of the bandstand to the parking lot near the bridge. It will stop short of the Kennedy Drive/Bridge Street intersection, Bousquet said. 

The clock, which is already installed, was donated. Rotary Club President Marc Archambault said, "We’re particularly grateful to the anonymous Rotarian who personally donated the funds to purchase the distinctive clock which has been installed in the park."

Bousquet said a sign, measuring 47 inches by 72 inches will be installed near the edge of Kennedy Drive, closer to the parking lot than the former sign was. He said it will be illuminated and can be seen from both sides. Bousquet, the town's Recreation Commission and Rotarian Jennifer Beckett worked on the sign and its design. 

The town bell, which was moved from the Town Hall tower to the park for the town's 150th anniversary, will get a stamped concrete base and a protective roof with a cupola and a weathervane, Bousquet said. 

Plans also call for three Free Little Libraries to be installed. One will be installed in Rotary Park near the Bridge Street bridge end of the park. Bousquet said two round picnic tables will also be installed nearby so people can pick out a book and sit and read in that quieter area of the park. Another library will go in the "pocket park" at the corner of Marshall and Providence streets and the third one will grace the parking lot grassy area across from the Riverview mini golf on Kennedy Drive. Eagle Scout candidate Michael DiColella, of Boy Scout Troop 25, is creating the library project as his Eagle Scout project. 

Bousquet said two benches will be installed, each honoring the late Rotarian Doug Valentine. They will be wrought iron. One will be in Rotary Park, behind the bandstand and the other will be in Veterans Park on Bridge Street. Valentine was a Vietnam veteran. The benches were funded with donations.

In addition, some work will be done on the two plaques and the state of Connecticut sign. The plaque commemorating Dr. Robert Dinolt and the Rotary Club's help creating the town park in the early 1960s will be refurbished by National Chromium --- a donation. A second Rotary plaque has been glued to a rock in the center of the Rotary flagpole garden. Bousquet said they are trying to figure out how to refurbish that plaque without trying to take it off the rock. "We don't want to break it," he said.  The state of Connecticut, years ago, gave each town a "town history" sign as part of its anniversary celebration. Putnam's sign is in need of some reconditioning. Currently the town and the Putnam Rotary club are looking for a local firm that can recondition that sign. 

Funding for all the projects is a joint effort between the Putnam Rotary Club and the town of Putnam. With spare funds, the Rotary Club paid for the irrigation project, the benches, some of the sign work, stamped concrete, electrical work for lights for the sign, some of the seeding and other costs connected with seeding, some of the work on the bell, signs and plaques. A $4,500 Rotary Foundation grant went toward part of the sign, the Eagle Scout project, two picnic tables and part of the cost of the work around the bell.  

Bousquet added that by May the town may know the fate of the state's local capital improvement fund. He said if the town gets a piece of that, they'd like to pave a small entry into the park that runs behind the bandstand and then pave a small parking lot behind the bandstand with enough room for five or six cars. "We would hope to do it in this calendar year," Bousquet said.

Rotary Park was created after the Flood of 1955 and was dedicated in 1966. The first revitalization was the addition of the River Trail and the removal of a parking lot. After that, in 2004, the bandstand was added. 

Delpha M. Very, director of the Putnam Economic & Community Development, is past president of the Putnam Rotary Club and the project started under her presidency last year. She said:  I have always felt that Rotary Park is a keystone of Putnam…a place where people gather to reconnect, a community spotlight for the arts and as well as having the most aesthetic views in town. Rotary Park should be shared in perpetuity and the Rotary Club of Putnam feels an obligation to be a caretaker. I am proud of our members to take this journey with me as past president and I can only thank the community at large for supporting our fund-raisers to make this journey possible."

Rotary President Marc Archambault said: "The club was very interested in funding a project which would have a significant, visible and long-lasting impact for Putnam and our surrounding communities.  Putnam’s Rotary Park is a focal point in the community and draws so many people from all over northeastern Connecticut.  We feel that the projects we’re helping to fund will enhance the usefulness and beauty of the park. The businesses and individuals of our communities are always so supportive of Rotary’s fund-raising efforts, and we’re happy to be able to use those funds to provide something which will be of lasting benefit to the community. The clock, along with the beautiful new sign, benches, picnic tables and Free Little Libraries which are soon to be installed, will help to enhance the look and functionality of the park.  The enhanced grass surface will really make events more enjoyable for all."

 

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