GREENFIELD — Sam Stafford walked barefoot near the Eunice Williams Bridge. The cuffs of his blue jeans dragged through the grass adjacent to a dam on the Green River. Below, at the base of the dam, people splashed about in the river.
As a teenager, Stafford, now 23, swam here with his friends. Then, only the kids, students at Greenfield High and Frontier Regional, knew about it — or, at least, only they came here. Stafford hadn’t been here in years, but as he stood with his wife, Nikki, and looked over the river Sunday, he saw a scene much different from what he remembered.
Families populated the swimming hole, young kids and adults wading through the low water. On another lawn by the riverbank, people sat on camping chairs, blankets and coolers, grilled meat and watched their children frolic. Some of the adults gathered around folding tables to play dominos, their games punctuated with vibrant exclamations.
The sounds of children at play careened down Eunice Williams Drive. Cars lined the street — some parked neatly in the grass, some sticking well into an already narrow roadway. In all, at least 50 people were reveling around the river.
“I don’t remember ever seeing so many people here before,” Stafford said.
The spot’s word-of-mouth popularity has brought larger crowds to the spot and alerted people to a new way of cooling off in the summer — several people said they’d heard about it through friends and were checking it out for the first time.
But the newfound renown has also drawn criticism. Local residents have filed complaints to Mayor William Martin’s office about the size of the crowds, as well as littering and vandalism in the area. The town responded last week when police increased daytime and nighttime patrols in the area, and the Department of Public Works put up new signs warning swimmers not to jump off the bridge or swim in the reservoir above the dam, which contributes to the town’s water supply.
On Sunday, some trash remained — like an assortment of glass bottles and chip bags in the shade of a boulder on the other side of the street — but much of the area appeared to be clean.
Springfield resident Chris Santos, attending a family gathering by the bridge, said the afternoon had gone off without a hitch. He’d worn swimming shoes to protect his feet from anything in the riverbed, and now he lounged in a camping chair and nursed a beverage.
“Even the police stopped by and said hi,” Santos, 32, said.
Closer to the river, Wayne Kebba and Sarah Asher watched their 6-year-old daughter, Amaiah, as she splashed in the shallows. Kebba said he’s been coming to the swimming hole regularly for a couple of months, but it was more crowded Sunday than it usually is.
Kebba and Asher know the river is swim-at-your-own-risk, but they can watch Amaiah. It’s also easier on their wallets — Kebba said he started coming here after the Greenfield Swimming Area wanted him to pay $8 for Amaiah to play on its playground.
“There’s not a lot of places for people to go in the summer, especially if you’re on a budget,” Asher said.
Most people who come here respect the environment, said Kebba, 34, of Greenfield. Most people throw away their trash, and earlier that day, he’d even seen someone — a resident, not a town official — walking along the river just to pick up garbage.
The people drawing unwanted attention to the spot are in the minority of visitors, he said.
“You always get the schmos that ruin it for everybody else,” he said.
As she listened to her dad deride the litterers, Amaiah pointed to a spot along the riverbank.
“There’s trash over there!” she said.
“That’s why we’re saying you have to be respectful,” Asher told her.