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Despite the rain, the team behind the Riverwalk Sculpture Park on Shore Road was all smiles as the park was officially unveiled.
Hilda Wong-Doo, president of Arts Winchester, welcomed a group of residents and board members gathered on May 10 for the event. She called the area “a jewel of a park,” and thanked not only the project team, but also the Select Board, Conservation Commission and the Department of Public Works.
“This is really amazing,” Wong-Doo said, watching members of the Winchester High School Octets readying to sing at Saturday’s event. “I’m so pleased by how it’s come out. I hope people take advantage of it.”
Arts Winchester’s Visual Arts Director Cynthia Randall, who along with Wong-Doo, picked out the “Gulls” sculpture by Dale Rogers and “Vertical Water-Silver Wave” by Karin Stanley, was thrilled by how the park came together.
She said she had seen similar stone benches done at a park in Burlington and made some inquires. The rocks scattered through the new park and holding up the benches come from the Middlesex Canal.
Randall said the rocks were at the DPW yard and it was thanks to the department that they ended up at park. She said the DPW came with two big trucks and moved the rocks into place.
“It really went well,” she said, with a smile. “This is one of the better volunteer experiences I’ve had.”
Sculptor Rogers installed “Gulls,” a sculpture grouping of three stainless steel seagulls, last December.
Josh Ruder, the stone bench sculptor, was also onsite last December to assist with the “Gulls” installation and final completion of his two stone benches.
Stanley, an Irish born artist and garden designer, has given lectures at the New England Flower show and the Philadelphia Flower show, the Arnold Arboretum and various clubs on the Irish and Scottish Gardens. She also organizes tours to the Arnold Arboretum for Harvard University and various private groups.
Left, Dale Rogers by his ‘Gulls’ sculpture. COURTESY PHOTO/ARTS WINCHESTER. Right, Karin Stanley’s ‘Vertical Water-Silver Wave.’ WINCHESTER NEWS STAFF PHOTO/NELL ESCOBAR COAKLEY
Select Board Chair Michelle Prior parks on Shore Road and had seen the new Riverside Sculpture Park as it took shape. She said the Select Board was very happy to help with the project by providing American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
Prior said she even learned something about the park during Saturday’s event.
“I didn’t know the story behind the rocks,” she said. “They had the concept, but it is so nice to see it come to life.”
Park’s history
The idea for a sculpture park has been floating around for a while, as far back as 2019 when Winchester’s downtown area was designated as the Winchester Cultural District by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
But with ARPA funds running out by Dec. 30, 2024, the town last August requested organizations put together applications to receive a piece of the $300,000 in available money.
A look at the work done at Riverwalk Sculpture Park since November 2024. COURTESY PHOTOS/ARTS WINCHESTER
ARPA was federal funding aimed at helping communities recover from the economic blow dealt by COVID-19. Local nonprofits were invited to apply for funding.
Wong-Doo said Arts Winchester had tried to apply for grants in 2021, but the concept for a park was premature.
The idea for a park, however, never went away. So when the Select Board asked for Community Needs Grant applications, Wong-Doo said it was easy to figure out what Arts Winchester would do.
“We put that together in five days flat,” she said in April 2025. “The idea was that we would create some benches in the area out of historic canal stones.”
That wasn’t all, however.
The application also sought to add two new pieces of art, which Wong-Doo said came from Rogers, whose two sculptures “Away” and “Bird in Hand” are next to Town Hall as part of the Riverwalk.
“When we wrapped it all together, we stepped back and were like, ‘Oh, God, this is a great grant request!’” Wong-Doo explained earlier this spring. “We felt really good about the grant. Whenever you come together to work on something like this, it’s never wasted energy. We knew if the town didn’t give it to us, we still had a good story to ask someone else.”
Of the 11 organizations to receive funds in late September, Arts Winchester ended up with a $33,600-piece of the ARPA pie.
There was only one hitch — the money had to be spent by Nov. 26, 2024.
While it was exciting to receive the grant, Wong-Doo said there were immediate issues to nail down, including the wetlands and the fact that the land was in a flood zone. Then there were the 30 abutter letters that had to be sent out and a 10-day wait from there.
“Elaine Vreeland was amazing!” Wong-Doo said, of the town’s conservation administrator. “She spent so much time and care with me. She made sure the ads ran and the letters went out.”
Wong-Doo said the project was sliced in half. That way, she added, the information required by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) could be put in two categories: A to do list that could be worked on while the 10-day hold was in place and of course, the documents the DEP needed.
“We had an amazing group of people working on this,” Wong-Doo said, of Randall, landscaper Julie Khuen and Conservation Commission member Ann Storer as part of her team.
And let’s not forget the DPW team bringing in all the heavy stones, MC Landscaping leveling the ground, creating pathways and bringing in the sod and Nevola Irrigation and Lighting, which has been installing irrigation and wiring for future lighting on the site.
The work on the park officially began Oct. 26, 2024 when ConCom organized a group of volunteers to clear out the brush and invasive plants along the wetlands.
On Nov. 5, 2024, the DPW moved 16 fieldstone boulders to the park site.
“They just had them at the DPW garage and transfer station,” Wong-Doo said, of the stones. “They were an amazing group of people. They moved all our stones in two hours. We even have a canal stone from the Middlesex Canal.”
Wong-Doo on Saturday said the plantings were donated by the En Ka Society.
