TURNERS FALLS — More than 50 people gathered at Spinner Park Saturday morning for a rededication ceremony and to celebrate the return of the Spinner statue following its restoration.
Town officials welcomed the public to the park as they rededicated it to former Town Administrator Frank Abbondanzio, the longest-lasting municipal administrator in the history of Franklin County — serving from 1980 to 1992 and 1997 to 2016 — who drove the efforts to create Spinner Park in the first place. He died in 2018.
“He was a passionate advocate of historic preservation and landscape architecture,” Town Planner Walter Ramsey said of Abbondanzio. “Frank first had the vision for this pocket park and the streetscape in general in the 1980s. I can’t be sure Frank would approve of all the modern touches in this park, but this quiet respite under a dogwood tree where his plaque is, on a restored building, is the type of place that best suits his personality and serves as a reminder for his foundational contributions.”
Abbondanzio’s widow, Libby Stevenson, who was in attendance with her son and grandchildren, was touched by the town honoring the park after her late husband.
“This is the perfect place,” Stevenson said after the ceremony. “It’s very nice all these people came out. … It’s really special.”
Assistant Town Planner Suzanne LoManto, who is also director of Montague’s arts and business organization, RiverCulture, said the Spinner statue is a mark of history for Turners Falls and is a constant presence on the main street of town.
“Imagine what she’s seen on Avenue A since we first dedicated the park in 1985 — the significant steps forward, the occasional fumbles — the Spinner has witnessed it all,” LoManto said. “Today she’s back and ready to take her rightful position as a witness to our days and weeks and months and years and decades together as a community.”
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 at the original dedication.
The statue was refurbished by local sculptor Jack Nelson, who said the Spinner represents the “devotion and love” of the working women of the past and the future.
“It not only represents the history of women who did so much to build,” Nelson told the crowd. “It also mirrors into the generations that are coming, the women who work on the avenue as we stand here.”
A time capsule, dated for 2096 and designed by local artist Nina Rossi, was also included in the base of the statue. The capsule contains 40 portraits of female workers posed with the tools of their trade on the empty base of the statue. Also included are 10 essays from 40 of the women.
Rossi said she worked with a graduate student from the University of Massachusetts Amherst to create the time capsule project.
“People want to know what people envision the future to be,” Rossi said after the ceremony. “It’s a message from the past.”
She added that Spinner Park as a whole is a “wonderful” space and she is hopeful it reminds people of the work women put into the mills that built Turners Falls.
“Let’s keep honoring women and their work,” Rossi said. “Maybe we can come up with some sort of annual event.”
Turners Falls resident Josh Whitcomb attended the ceremony with his family because his wife’s stepmother helped work on the park in the ’80s.
“We always like coming here and we wanted to see what it looked like,” Whitcomb said. “It’s beautiful. They did a great job restoring it.”
Montague Center resident Ariel Elan said it’s nice to see people come out to celebrate the effort put into restoring the park and the Spinner statue.
“A lot of people put a lot of work, really hard work, into it,” Elan said. “It’s good to show up for community events.”
Elan joked that the Spinner doesn’t look like much of a worker because she has a “classical Greek” look, but she likes that she gives off a “protective vibe.” She said she hopes people recognize the importance of the Spinner honoring working women and the conditions they went through, and that these problems have not gone away.
“There’s a bit of disconnect when talking about work and the working conditions of women,” Elan said. “There’s still so much exploitation.”
State Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Sunderland, was also in attendance. Blais noted after the event that there is an Oct. 7 hearing for Bill H.3379, which would create a Women’s Rights History Trail educational and awareness program. She said she plans to bring the Spinner statue to the attention of the bill’s sponsors as a significant landmark for the trail.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.