TURNERS FALLS — A familiar face will return to Spinner Park on Saturday.
The Spinner, an iron statue of a female factory worker that honors Montague’s industrial history and especially the role of women in local factories, was removed in May 2020 to be refurbished. A park rededication ceremony, scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m., will celebrate its return.
Assistant Town Planner Suzanne LoManto previously said the Spinner statue was cast in a foundry in Alabama, and the town bought it in the 1980s. Members of the Montague Selectboard and former U.S. Rep. John W. Olver dedicated Spinner Park in May 1985 to honor the town’s industrial heritage. Nine women who worked at the Kendall, Esleek and Strathmore mills were in attendance.
“It fit in with the idea that so many women worked in our factories,” said LoManto, who is also director of Montague’s arts and business organization, RiverCulture.
Thirty-five years after its dedication, the town decided that the Spinner needed to be refurbished. It had accumulated three layers of paint that obscured fine details in the metalwork. Local sculptor Jack Nelson was commissioned to refurbish the statue.
The statue’s refurbishment coincided with work on the park itself, representing the first renovation since 1985. LoManto said Spinner Park had endured “a lot of wear” over the years.
“There were a lot of structural issues in the park that needed to be addressed,” LoManto said.
Construction work involved replacing crumbling walls with more durable granite, adding a 2-foot wall around the park, replacing burnt out lighting and bringing the park up to modern accessibility codes.
Work on the park was completed by Sciaba Construction Corporation of Walpole with about $280,000 of funding from a federal Community Development Block Grant, which also covered the cost of the statue’s refurbishment. The park retains most of its original features and dimensions.
“The design of this park is very similar to the design of the last park,” LoManto said. “It’s largely the same size. … It’s shifted just a few feet.”
The most noticeable deviation will be the repositioning of the statue. While the statue was originally positioned in the center of the park, it will now be near the back.
Another addition to Spinner Park will be a plaque dedicated to former Town Administrator Frank Abbondanzio, the longest-lasting municipal administrator in the history of Franklin County whose efforts to improve the community included bringing Spinner Park to fruition.
“Frank has always championed Montague, and Turners Falls in particular,” LoManto said. “The original park was his brainchild.”
Saturday’s park rededication ceremony will also include the positioning of a time capsule designed by local artist Nina Rossi. The capsule, dated for 2096, includes essays from 10 of the 40 female workers who posed with tools of their trade and personal symbols to have their portraits taken by Rossi. As explained on the capsule’s exterior, the essays detail what each woman “imagined the future of their profession might be.”
LoManto said she’s optimistic that the town’s next chapter will include more programming and events. She added that Abbondanzio had always been invested in the “creative economy” and she hopes the rededicated park can help carry forth the tradition of hosting artistic events in Turners Falls.
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.