F.O.C.P.

About 10 years ago I used to go to a park in town.  I'd only go with a friend because it was isolated and no one was ever there.  We'd only go every once in a while because there were only a few things for the kids to play on.  But the setting was gorgeous.  The perfect spot for a playground.  Right on a pond with woods surrounding it.  Trails and animals and nature.   I loved the park.   This might be the place where I first discovered as an adult how deeply woods and water touch my soul and bring me peace.  We came here on many days when we were cranky or climbing the walls at home and as soon as we were at the park our spirits and moods were lifted.  I couldn't understand why no one was ever at Choate Park! 

Then one day after work I went to another favorite park with my daughter on our way home from work and daycare.  It was a beautiful warm spring day.  There were probably 50 people at the park.  Moms and dads and babysitters and lots and lots of kids.   A very pretty setting in the woods but not as spectacular as Choate.  As I drove home I wondered if maybe Choate Park was crowded too because it was such a beautiful day.  Same day, same time, same weather.  I stopped by the park just to check.  There was one dad and his daughter.  

Lots of families and kids enjoying the beautiful day!

The comparison just made me sad.  Why didn't this park work?

It really was a diamond in the rough.  But with such potential!

What a shame, I thought.  And then I started comparing the two parks.  One was crowded, the other empty.  Of course the crowded park had more actual playground equipment.  Choate park had a small playground structure, a few swings, and a couple of spring ride toys while the other park had a large climbing structure and a toddler structure, a swing set and a tire swing set, a playhouse, a sandbox and a trike trail.  While watching the kids at the other park I noticed something.  Of course they would climb on the structures and go down the slides but the majority of the time they spent scooping sand in the sandbox, driving trucks around the park, or riding on scooters and big wheels, playing in the house, or running down the hill.   

I took some pictures at both park and when I got home I thought about it, and thought about it, and thought about it.  I went to other playgrounds and did research and took pictures.  What was missing from Choate that other playgrounds had?  I felt that all somebody needed to do was add a little bit to Choate Park and families would start coming.   It wouldn't take much.  Just a bike/trike trail, a sand box and some hand me down toys.  At some point I called the park department.  They said that sounded like a great idea.  Why didn't I come in and talk to the Park's Commissioners about my idea.  Great,  I thought.   I could give them my ideas.  They would fix it up.  And everyone would use the park more.  I put together a slideshow on my husband's laptop of pictures of different parks.  I don't love public speaking but found as a teacher if I had pictures to talk about and something else for people to look at besides me, I did much better.  I showed them pictures of the two parks on the same day.  I gave them examples of small changes we could make to have a big impact.  I told them it wouldn't cost much.  It could be a quick fix. 

A message board for community events.  

A sand box for our littlest children who aren't as steady on
playground structures to play and learn.  

A trike trail and bikes, trikes, scooters, cars for riding fun.  

A play house or building for dramatic play.
I still want to create something like this at Choate with historic Medway
Buildings or local fun stops.  
Maybe for our 10th Anniversary next year? 

Benches for tired parents to sit and watch their kids play.
To not be helicopter parents.  To relax and drink their coffee and
let the playground and the other children be their kids entertainment for awhile. 

Bricks to memorialize loved ones, to thank teachers,
to fundraise and make it a community park. 

A thank you to all that helped improve the park.  

They loved the idea!  Then they told me to start a committee.  Something like a Friends of the Park group, they suggested.   Friends?  But I didn't know anyone in Medway?  I worked in Needham and my daughter went to school in Medfield.  And I literally knew no one in Medway except my 70 year neighbor that I liked to chat with over the fence while we both gardened.  Someone was at the meeting from the paper.  She said she would write up a little blurb in the paper about a new friends of the park group starting and maybe we could get some volunteers that way.  Not what I bargained for when I went to the meeting.  Maybe somebody could do something about this beautiful park that is being underused I had thought.   Apparently that somebody was me.  

It wasn't the ideal time.  I had 3 kids under the age of 5.  None were in full day school.  My kitchen had been under construction for the past 6 months.  I had people in my house every day working while I took care of my three babies.  Perhaps that's why it was a good time.  I needed to get out and do something else.  Our family spent my childhood volunteering.  At our neighbors apple orchard, around town, at the camp we went to family camp.  My parents went off at night to meetings and committees and ran town wide events.  It was in my nature, at the core of who I am, and who my parents raised me to be.  Someone that gives back.  Someone that leaves the world a little better than they found it.  Someone that steps up.  Whether or not I want to.  Sometimes I can't help myself.  

The article came out about a week later.  I was mortified.  The title was "Medway Woman Looking for Friends", I think it even included my picture!  It was like a bad personal ad.  The article went on to describe the fact that I was starting a new friends of the park group to fix up the park.  The mortification had been done in the title.  My close friends laughed.  I'm not someone that's eager to go out and meet everyone.  I'm into the friends I have.  I don't need to know everyone.  So for me, of all people, to be publicly seeking friends in a newspaper article?  Hysterical, or so they thought.   The first meeting was a little nerve racking.  People actually came!  Luckily my friend that used to accompany me to the park all those years when it was so isolated was there, so I wasn't talking to a room of strangers.  I showed the same slideshow as I had showed the parks department.  I had an agenda and a plan.  I was a do-gooder with what I thought was a simple idea.  A lot of the people that showed up were Girl Scout or Boy Scout moms.  Looking for Eagle Scout projects for their sons or Silver Award projects for their troops.  A few others came as well.  I'm pretty sure I remember getting yelled at that first meeting for only thinking about the playground and not the whole park.  I was naive.  I didn't know what I was getting myself into.  

Many people have come and gone since that first meeting.  But a lot of them remain the same.  And the funny thing is that they are my friends.  They are the people I call year round if I need something.  Even if it's just a beer at the local bar and a few laughs.  Who would have thunk!   We have an Earth Day clean up every April that has now gotten roped in with the town wide clean up.  For many years we have also done A Halloween Touch-A Truck, Art in the Park, Easter Egg Hunts, a Summer Concert Series, Concessions for the Santa Parade and Fireworks, Community Playground Builds, Fall Clean Ups, Memorial benches, Tree plantings, Wine Tasting Fundraisers and More. 

At Touch-A-Truck kids come in costumes to climb all over trucks.  

And walk in a Halloween Parade.  

A generous private donation bought us this toddler playground.
We have also had community builds to add new equipment to the park.

We added Choatie the turtle as a sculpture and mascot for kids to climb on. 

Spring Clean Ups are essential for keeping the pond and park clean.  

Easter egg hunts were fun until grandparents started pocketing extra eggs.
We've learned a lot from running events! Some we continue, some we don't!

Jesse the Machine carved this turtle for our park as a donation. 

Memorial benches are placed in the park.
This one was strategically placed to enjoy the view of the waterfall
while enjoying a picnic lunch.

Our favorite all time event. 

Fires in fire pits placed in pond. 

Pumpkins carved and placed around path around pond. 

Every year our group contributes to the Gingerbread House Festival
 at the library that we co-started.  We did not have an indoor space to run the event so
worked with the friends of the library group to run it there.  

We drink gingerbread martinis and get our creative juices flowing.  

Our Friends of Choate Park float in the Christmas Parade.  Driven by
our favorite mason and invaluable member of our group.  

We have taken the park from an isolated empty park to one that is crowded almost every day.  It's sometimes hard to find a parking place.  We have a website and a Facebook page and the park has really become what we thought it would when we started all those years ago.  The heart of Medway.  It is a beautiful spot to go as a family, meet up with friends, take a picnic lunch, go for your senior pictures.  The historic farm  house next door has recently been fixed up and now is a beautiful setting to host weddings, fundraisers, and events while overlooking the pond and the park.  What a gorgeous spot!

This lone adolescent swan has been seen recently at the pond.
Hopefully next year he'll be back with his mate.
Fitting since a wedding venue has just been added overlooking the pond.  

It's been 10 years now.  And yes I'm still president of this small group here in town.  Although I have tried to step back.  No one else will take over.  It seems a shame to disband when we are established as a 501c3 and we all still love the park.  We have gotten smaller over the years but that is by choice.  We don't need to do fundraisers for equipment, the playground is built.  We are now stewards of the park.  We do one event for the public every year.  It is free, it is huge, it makes us happy.  We clean the park every spring and garden here and there.  We don't really meet any more.  Only in the fall around the time of the event.  Sometimes only once.  Much of our communicating happens through email.  We all take on the same roles each year.  Many hands makes light work.  This is our 9th Annual Pumpkin Walk.  It practically runs itself now.  Except for the parking!  Anyone want to come out this Saturday night and wear a neon vest? Yah.  I didn't think so.  Not many people volunteer for that job!