Seymour’s Broad Street Park will get a makeover this spring, when a group of volunteers install brick walkways, lighting and new park benches at the site.
The project is the culmination of more than two decades of dreaming and conspiring by Al Yagovane and the rest of the Broad Street Park Committee.
The park sits in the shadow of the Route 8 overpass, at the busy intersection of River Street and Broad Street.
Fifty years ago, the spot was really more of a hole in the ground than a small parcel of open space.
But Yagovane saw potential in the tiny parcel. It overlooks the Naugatuck River near Seymour’s downtown, two points he thought would draw visitors.
Thursday, after years of small steps to make the site a park to honor Seymour veterans, the town held a groundbreaking at the park for this final project.
“It’s been a work in progress for 28 years,” Yagovane said recently.
The group received $20,000 from the Katharine Matthies Foundation, and plans to use volunteer work from more than a dozen local contractors to complete the project.
The committee is also accepting donations, in the form of sponsored bricks, to help pay for the work.
When complete, a 500-foot brick walkway will circle the parcel. Benches will be installed overlooking the Naugatuck River waterfall. And lighting will be installed to keep the park safe.
A plaque honoring all veterans will eventually be installed, Yagovane said.
Years of Slow Progress
Yagovane said the park-building efforts started in 1983, when he asked town leaders if he could fill in the hole at the site.
“It was a big hole left from the 1955 flood,” Yagovane said.
The flood waters tore out the land that used to be at the banks of the Naugatuck River, near the downtown waterfalls, Yagovane said.
“It was kind of a dump,” said Bill Wilkin, a member of the committee.
“So I filled it in,” Yagovane said. “I asked if I could fill it in and make some kind of park out of it to honor the veterans.”
Over the next two and a half decades, Yagovane and a team of volunteers continued improving the lot, adding a flag pole, a gazebo and plantings.
They started hosting Veterans Day events there each November.
The roughly 1‑acre parcel is owned by the State of Connecticut, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Town.
Yagovane said the project has been a team effort since the beginning.
Thursday, several dozen people gathered at the park to witness the groundbreaking.
The traditional gold shovel photo op started off with about seven people. Yagovane kept pulling in more — those who bought bricks, those who helped out in various ways, and those who have lent support.
“Now can we get everybody?” Yagovane asked, as he pulled more people from the crowd and brought them in for the photo. “Everybody get behind the shovels here!”
By the time the photo was taken, there were more than 20 people in the shot.
To Purchase a Brick
Bricks can be purchased for $5 each. To purchase an engraved brick, it costs $100. A larger engraved brick costs $150.
To purchase a brick, contact Yagovane at (203) 736‑7981.
