SHELBURNE FALLS — The Deerfield River Watershed Chapter of Trout Unlimited honored the reopening of the Bridge of Flowers with donated stone benches on Friday. The benches also serve as a way for the chapter to highlight the importance of the Deerfield River running beneath the bridge.
The mission of the chapter is to “conserve, protect and enhance the Deerfield River Watershed and its cold water fisheries.” Visitors can see a version of that message engraved on the longest of the three benches on the Buckland side of the Bridge of Flowers, next to the West End Pub.
While the benches stand for a celebration of sorts, according to Chapter President Mike Vito, it was also important to the group to showcase the river itself, what it means to the community and how significant it is as a cold water fishery.
“This is a very popular tourist destination, and any time that you could make folks more comfortable and highlight the bridge and the river, it’s a home run,” Vito said. “People just took to the idea, they really did.”
According to Vito, the benches were the idea of President ex-officio Kevin Parsons, who has a law office down the street. The old benches near the bridge fell apart, he said, so Parsons had the idea to connect, via benches, the chapter’s mission to the community in a spot that receives so many visitors.
Chapter representatives, friends and community members gathered Friday to see Parsons and Vice President Eric Halloran speak about that desire to inform and serve the community.
“We are trying to conserve, protect and enhance our cold water fisheries, but we also want to give back to our community,” Parsons said. “This is our way, as a chapter, to give back.”
The benches were a community effort to put together, too. Greenfield-based monument maker Negus & Taylor engraved the benches; Shelburne Falls-based contracting company J.S. Rae donated the time and machinery to lift and move the stone; and Ashfield Stone donated and finished the stone itself.
Johanna Anderson-Pratt, of Ashfield Stone, not only donated the stone to support her community, but in honor of her father, who was a well-known past president of the Boston chapter of Trout Unlimited.
“It’s sort of honoring him in a way. It feels right,” she said.
Also present were members of the Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club and its Bridge of Flowers Committee. The Women’s Club created the original Bridge of Flowers, and Club Co-President Penny Spearance, along with Bridge of Flowers Committee Chair Annette Szpila, acknowledged the importance of the bridge and their excitement for the new additions.
“Anything that enhances our bridge and our town,” Spearance said, is welcome.
On one of the benches, underneath the Trout Unlimited logo, is a QR code to continue to inform visitors about the Deerfield River and Trout Unlimited itself. When visitors scan the code with their smartphones, they will be directed to the chapter’s website, where they’ll be able to learn about not only its mission, but the different citizen science projects the chapter is involved in.
“This is something, I think, that’s not just an investment for the community,” Vito said, “but it also helps put our message out there.”