BUCKLAND — The town hit a homerun in its bid to secure a $50,000 state grant that, when coupled with a $50,000 donation from TransCanada, will enable the town to buy a popular 3.5-acre ballpark — and keep it as a recreation area forever.
The state Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities (PARC) grant was the final step needed for the town to preserve the ballpark, which could have eventually been sold off for private development by the VFW Post 8503.
“The park, which has been known as Cricket Field, has been around for a long time,” said Selectmen’s Chairman Rob Riggan. “There’s a lot of sentiment around it, and a lot of people will be happy. Personally, I’m delighted. I think it’s great. It’s the one lighted ballfield in town. The Little League plays there. It has a pavillion, baseball field and a horseshoe pit that’s still used on Wednesday nights.”
“I know that it means a lot to the neighbors,” said Riggan. “We owe a lot to the veterans and also to TransCanada.”
Riggan said Henry Phillips of the Shelburne Falls Veterans of Foreign Wars had a lot to do with seeing that the land retained its use as a town park. The field was once part of the Lamson & Goodnow property down near the Deerfield River, and it was called “Cricket Field” because the game of cricket was actually played there. In the 1950s, it was used by the Little League for practice. And at some point later, the town considered acquiring the land to straighten out the curve in the road on Conway Street. The Mohawk Men’s Softball League encouraged the VFW to buy the property for recreational use. And in 1970, the cutlery maker sold the land to the VFW for a relatively small price, on the condition that they keep it for use as a ballfield for at least 50 years.
This summer the town said the land, with its pavillion and lighting for night games, has been appraised as worth $115,000.
The field has been called Cricket Field, Vets Field and as the Chadwick Memorial Field. It isn’t known if the park has any formal name, and giving it an official name might be one step taken as the park is fixed up and improved this spring.
At this spring’s annual town meeting, voters supported an article allowing selectmen to purchase the land, at no cost to taxpayers, if the town was able to get the purchase price in grant money.
On Monday, at least $7 million in grant funding for park and recreation improvements was announced by the Baker administration, through the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs’ PARC program.
“The PARC program continues to play a vital role in protecting and improving the (state’s) parkland by helping municipalities fund the acquisition of new parkland, as well as the renovation of existing parks to make them more accessible, usable and modern,” Gov. Charlie Baker said.
Other local communities that received PARC grants included Orange, which got $50,000 for playground renovations at Butterfield Park, and Shelburne, which received $50,000 to renovate the Cowell Gym outdoor courts for basketball, tennis and pickleball.