The gazebo in front of 85 Wilbraham Rd. in Hampden looks renewed since volunteers came together to refurbish the structure.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
HAMPDEN — The gazebo on the lawn in front of the former Thornton W. Burgess School may seem like a small amenity in Hampden, but it has gotten a new life thanks to the Parks & Recreation Department and some volunteers.
“Every year, the Rotary Club of Wilbraham and Hampden donates a day of service at Memorial Park,” explained Parks & Recreation Department Director Dan Blanchard. This year, the park is in good condition, so Blanchard and his team tried to find a different project for the Rotarians, who partner with the Above the Influence Club at Minnechaug Regional High School. The gazebo stood out as a perfect project for the groups.
“It’s probably the first thing people see when they come in and out of there,” Blanchard said. The gazebo was worn and in need of repainting, and the bushes around the structure needed to be replaced.
In May, the department set up three different Saturdays for the Rotarians and students to work on the gazebo, but each one was rained out. The project could not be accomplished before school let out for the summer, making the club members unavailable.
Blanchard said he still wanted to address the gazebo, so he enlisted the help of several groups and people in town. Aside from Blanchard and the maintenance people on his staff, other people volunteered to paint the gazebo, including Blanchard’s son, Reid Blanchard.
Looking for help with the landscaping, Blanchard asked Highway Superintendent Mark Langone if he would pull the existing bushes from the ground. He said Langone had completed the task within a couple of days. Blanchard said one of the biggest helpers was Keith Isham of Keith Isham Landscaping. Not only did Isham remove weeds and recut the edges of the flower bed to make it clean and more defined, but he also donated the topsoil and mulched the beds.
Blanchard then reached out to the Garden Club. “The Garden Club does a lot of things for the community,” Blanchard said. He said the group was willing to plant annual flowers this year and replace them with fresh flowers each spring. He said the flowers will soon be planted, putting the finishing touch on the gazebo.
“It hasn’t really cost anyone much” because people have donated their time, labor and products,” Blanchard said.
The property at 85 Wilbraham Rd. is slated to become the new home of the town offices. While Town Meeting had not yet approved repurposing the building when Blanchard selected the gazebo as a project, he said the possibility of new life at the shuttered school was one of the reasons he chose it.
“I hope that [the gazebo] becomes a nice community space, whether people come down to the offices and want to have a nice picnic or employees go out there on their lunch breaks,” he said, adding that it might even serve as a venue for summer concerts.
