The Benson Park Committee opened its August 22 meeting with an update on the placement of the Firefighters Memorial once it moves from its home on the corner of Lowell and Central Street in Hammon Park to the more spacious Benson Park. Its new home will be on a patch of open grassland across from Hudson’s 9/11 Memorial.
“They want to run power down through a junction box just outside of the train station,” Committee Chair, Jack Madden, explained, referring to the lighting in the area.
The relocation will likely take several weeks to complete, and originally had a rough starting date of mid-August.
“My biggest question is if they have a timetable yet and when it might start,” said Vice Chair, Judy Brouillette. “I’m assuming that they’d have to do it before the ground freezes, but maybe they’re not starting it this year? Maybe they’ll break ground next year?”
Secretary, Sarah Petkiewicz, expressed her belief it would probably start “before winter.”
Brouillette suggested putting hay bales between the uphill train station and the downhill memorial location during snowier months to protect sledders.
“Once snow starts, it might become like projectile where somebody could go into it,” she worried.
Dave Morin, who is in charge of the memorial placement, promised to talk the Fire Department and Public Works to see if that would be an issue.
“I think they had taken that into consideration,” said Morin. “But we’ll definitely look into that.”
Madden had not talked with the lead paint and mold inspector regarding ongoing abatement efforts at the train station.
“I will call him and set up a meeting to go over things,” Madden promised.
The Board of Selectmen official gave the green light for a donation of two lion statues for the park. After talking with Department of Public Works Jay Twardosky, Madden floated some ideas for the statues’ new home.
“A proposed location is in the field behind the office building and down the hill from the Friends of Benson Park Elephant Barn,” he said. “For the winter we can store them inside the ever-popular gorilla cage.”
The Vice-Chair recommended putting the statues in the cage year-round.
“I think there would be no chance of it being touched and then it would not get weathered,” she argued. “We don’t want anybody climbing on them anyway. Now I know it’s a gorilla cage, but I think that people could still observe it because we’re not opening the gorilla cage. I think it would be a nice thing to put in there so it’s not just a big cage with a mural on the back.”
Twardosky agreed to help move the heavy status.
“Is the cage going to be permanently closed from now on?” asked Petkiewicz.
Brouillette expressed her belief that keeping it closed was a good idea. The gorilla cage has suffered repeated vandalism, an ongoing problem in many areas of Benson Park.
The lion statues go back to the days of Benson’s Wild Animal Farm. Committee members raised the idea of making a plaque explaining the importance of the lions.
