The Annual Fulton Park Fall Clean-Up was held on October 20-21 from 11:00 A.M.-3:00 P.M. both days. Two Hundred and fifty-five volunteers worked for 4 hours each day to clear brush and overgrowth from the last 50 years. The volunteers came from the Yeshiva, the Church of Latter Day Saints, the Young Marines, the Waterbury Americare, the community clubs which surround Fulton Park and residents of Overlook, Upper Fulton, Crown-Brook, Hillside and Willow-Plaza. Private companies, like Cotter Construction and Landscaping, LLC also volunteered their equipment and workers. The Fulton Park employees were there to hall the brush away. PAL provided the work gloves. All did a magnificent job. All worked The clean-up is hosted by the Historic Overlook Community Club. HOCC provided lunch to the volunteers.
Fulton Park has come a long way from the time of the Waterbury Republican American Park Blight article in 2009. Bettejane Wesson, now Park Board Commissioner and Michael Salvio, president of the Historic Overlook Community Club walked the newspaper reporter through a park which needed saved from extinction. The overgrowth buried bridges, walkways, staircases and stone walls. The park staff had been reduced to three. They worked hard mowing, picking up garbage, attending to ball fields and the pool, lacked the time to unearth years of lost land.
This clean-up is the third such clean-up held. The magnitude of the results is awesome.All the beauty of those stone masterpieces are being revealed. The Olmsted Brothers jewel is beginning to shine brilliant again. As you know, Frederik Olmsted designed Central Park in New York City. When visitors from New York come to Waterbury and see Fulton Park, they state that they feel at home.
Our Senator Joan Hartley and State Representative Jeff Berger have worked tirelessly acquiring federal and state grants for Fulton Park. Our Mayor Neil O’Leary has made Fulton Park along with the other Waterbury parks a priority and quality of life issue of his administration. As you know, with all their efforts along with the hard work of the Historic Overlook Community Club, Fulton Park has a new, state of the art playscape being built. The wading pool is being restored. Plans for the restoration of the Warming Hut are under way.
Once restored, the Warming Hut will be used for private and public occasions. This will be a focal point which, along with all the other aspects of the revitalization of the park, will draw Waterbury residents to enjoy this historic park. Residents could look forward to festivals concerts and just plain fun. The Historic Overlook Community Club working closely with the Waterbury Park Department has and will schedule plantings of flowers, bushes and trees. This will bring back the brides and grooms for wedding photos at the Rose Garden, Gazebo and other landmarks. There are plans for community picnics with balloon makers for the children and horse and buggy rides. Federal and state funds are being sought to dredge the ponds and streams to clean and widen them. When this happens, what’s next, skating on the pond? Why not!
The Historic Overlook Community Club gratefully thanks all who come to our fulton Park and volunteered their time to restore and polish the jewel to a bright shine and future.