Plans to install a new Veterans Park at the Town Hall on Main Road just got a boost in the form of a $10,000 grant from the State Historical Records Advisory Board.
According to Dee Cinner of the Chesterfield Veterans’ Park Committee, plans for the park have been underway since 2014. The estimated cost for the project is $66,770.
Cinner said the committee was excited to receive the grant and is looking forward to seeing the new park get underway.
“Between this grant money and funds that we have raised, we currently have $24,575, for the park,” Cinner said. “If we don’t raise anymore money, we will be asking for $32,200 at Town Meeting.”
If approved, ground breaking will begin shortly after July 4.
The park will be located next to the Town Hall in the center of town’s historic district.
At present there are two existing monuments with brass plaques containing honor rolls for World Wars I and II and the Korean and Vietnam conflicts on the side of lawn of the Town Hall, along with a historic cannon.
These items will be incorporated into the park design and additional plaques will be added to include all veterans who have served through to the present.
Cinner says that the park will cover approximately 7,000 square feet and will be handicapped accessible from both the front and rear of the Town Hall property.
Nick Dines, an independent design professional and Professor Emeritus of landscape architecture at UMass, volunteered his time to design the project.
Goshen stone sidewalks will lead from the front and rear of the Town Hall to a prominent stone patio where the historic cannon and a flagpole will be displayed.
The walkways will have stone seating walls as well as wooden benches and the entire area will be landscaped using plants, shrubs and trees chosen for their esthetics, low maintenance, and disease and drought resistance.
Two local quarries, Judd’s Original Goshen Stone, and Goshen Stone, donated stone for the project.
“The donations in stone alone have been very, very generous,” Cinner said.
Fundraising for the project is still going on and anyone wishing to make donations to the park should make checks payable to: Town of Chesterfield, Veterans’ Park, PO Box 299, 422 Main Road
Back for its 12th season, the annual Goshen Meltdown is now underway!
Every year this icy spring charity raises money for a different cause.
Funds are collected through ticket sales as people place bets on exactly when the Melt Down flag and the cement block it is attached to, will break through ice and sink to the bottom of Hammond Pond.
This year, funds raised will go towards the purchase of a new automated external defibrillator for the New Hingham Regional Elementary School in Chesterfield.
Goshen resident and Fire Captain Bob Labrie created the contest 12 years ago. Every year he places the 69-pound meltdown block out on the ice, attaching it to a timer in a near by shed that records the exact moment the block goes down.
According to Labrie, there has been on ice on Hammond Pond since just after Thanksgiving. As of last Tuesday, that ice was 18 inches thick.
Last year the block dropped through the ice on March 12 at 12:58 a.m.
To win the contest, you must make the closet guess without going over.
People can place their bets by going to www.goshenfire.com and printing out tickets. Tickets are $1 and you may buy as many tickets and make as many guesses as you like.
Half the ticket sales will go to the purchase of the AED and the other 50 percent will go to the winner of the contest.
The deadline for ticket submissions is Saturday, April 1.
To keep an eye on the contest, check out the regular updates on the Goshen Fire Department website and the Meltdown Facebook page.
Ed Stockman will deliver a presentation called the “High Cost of Cheap Food: Pesticide Residues and Reduced Nutrition” on Thursday, March 2 at 7 p.m. at the Plainfield Town Hall.
The program will look at why the quality of our food decreased significantly in the last 20 years.
This program is hosted by the Plainfield Agricultural Commission and is free and open to the public.
Ideas for this column on life in the Hilltowns can be sent to Fran Ryan at Fryan.gazette@gmail.com.