Rick Burnham, shown above, interviews Don Collins at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
By RICK BURNHAM
Messenger Staff Writer
FAIRFAX - It was an event that lasted only 10 minutes. But it was 14 years in the making.
Past and present members of the Fairfax Recreation Path Committee came together Saturday to cut a ribbon to open the path, culminating more than a decade of community events aimed at seeing the project to fruition.
Actual Ribbon Cutting Ceremony -- From left...Inga White (1992 original Rec Path Committee member), Lorna Meunier (1992 original & 2000 Rec Path Committee member), Debbie Tamayo (1992 original Rec Path Committee member), Carol Lizotte (current president of Rec Path Committee), Julie Filiberti (2000 Rec Path Committee member), Katrina Antonovich (2000 Rec Path Committee member), Danny Gross (1992 orginal Rec Path Committee member).
Carol Lizotte, president of the committee, called it a great example of what can happen when members of a community come together as one.
"This successfully completed recreation path shows what community really means," she said to a crowd of roughly two-dozen people. "We should all be proud of our community and how hard we worked to bring this to fruition. This is something not only for ourselves and our children, but also for our children's children. As the state likes to say, we are preserving land for the public recreation and benefit in perpetuity."
The path begins a short distance behind Bellow Free Academy-Fairfax and winds down along the Lamoille River, before ending near the town's covered bridge. It is approximately a quarter-mile long. In addition to its recreational purposes, the path was designed to provide an alternate walking and biking route to the school and lower village, as well as the access way to town athletic fields.
Don Collins at the Rec Path Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
State Senator Don Collins was one of those in attendance Saturday. A former superintendent of schools in Fairfax, Collins remembered the early days, when talk of -a recreation path first surfaced.
"The first discussions and putting in a walking path along the river were in 1992," he said: “There was some initial discussions about being able to purchase some property from Central Vermont Public Service. Fairfax qualified for some recreation grant money from the state along the way, and that helped tremendously."
“The new recreation path, he added, is a good example of how the people of Fairfax come together to get things done.”
"This is a close knit, vibrant community." He said. "I don't think there is another community in Vermont that really comes to the forefront with the time and their money like Fairfax does."
Alan Parent shown above with Jay Meunier
State representative Alan Parent, a 2006 senatorial candidate, agreed, calling the project one in which, not only Fairfax but Franklin Count, can take pride.
"It is a true community project," he said. "It shows what can be done when the community comes together."
Gary Gilbert & Mike Brown
State house candidate Gary Gilbert, a Fairfax resident and former BFA teacher, spoke appreciatively of the community’s hard work and perseverance over the years in seeing the project to completion.
"It culminates an activity that took part over a long period of time and involved a tremendous number of people.” He said. “It’s a great day for Fairfax.”
Lizotte echoed Gilbert’s sentiments, thanking the many people who have contributed to the path over the years.
“There have been so many people involved with this over the years, She said. “People who bought tickets for the duck races and people who dug ditches for the community. It was really a community effort and could not have happened unless the community support was there the whole way. I want to say thank you to all of you.”
Also in attendance at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony were Judy Cleary of the Fairfax Selectboard and Peggy of the Fairfax Schoolboard:
Selectboard Member Judy Cleary & Schoolboard Member Peg Stewart[/b]
