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captions, page 4, clockwise from top left:
Joe Gonsalves
Brandy Hapgood
Workers
Seated: Eva-Marie Robert from Chace Building Supply. Front row, from left: John Miller; then from Centreville Bank: Deb Tavernier, Ryan Kania, Mary Murphy and Melissa Hendrickson. Back, from Centreville Bank: Brian Carillon, Brandy Hapgood, Heather Berard, Theresa Wosencroft, Joe Gonsalves, Justin Bissanti and Shana Silveira. More photos Wed. night on Facebook: Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger.
Heather Berard sanding
Miller Park
revived:
'Many
hands ...'
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — It’s a park that sits quietly in the middle of all the hub-bub. Across from Around 1998, the space at the Belding intersection was dedicated to Robert Miller, former town historian. And then … not much happened.
Until last week.
The park was in search of some help, and Centreville Bank, was in search of a project to help the community. Dovetail.
July 19 a crew of Centreville Bank managers descended into the park and in blistering heat, made quick work of reviving the park. They trimmed and trimmed out brush, scraped the huge kiosk and painted.
Brandy Hapgood, one of two bank district executives, said every quarter the managers get together. “We do business training in the morning and then we do a community project in the afternoon,” she said.
John Miller, Miller’s nephew, a strong community member and a member of the bank’s board, had talked to Putnam’s Economic Development Director Delpha Very about reviving the park. Very, head of the Putnam Business Association’s Beautification Committee, was looking for volunteers for Beautification projects at a PBA meeting. She said Hapgood told her the bank needed a community project. And Eva-Marie Roberts, the paint studio manager at Chace Building Supply, offered her services (and she joined the committee right then and there, Very said).
All the informational plaques, maps and the bronze plaque dedicating the park to Robert Miller, were removed and Very said Joe Deery of Powerful Improvements power washed the large right-angled kiosk.
Roberts brought the exterior latex paint, lots of supplies and her expertise. The crew set about scraping and then, painted the white background and the red edge of the top of the kiosk.
Very said the bronze plaque will go back up. The maps and the information on the mills and the River Trail would be revised and then may go back up. “There’s lots of opportunities,” Very said. It’s a big space. Possibilities range from signage, announcements, general information, historic relevance and storytelling, just to name a few.
She said she expects the shining “new” Miller Park will be all put together within the next three to six months.
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