Lucile's Cottage
Since 2022, the vision of transforming Veasey Memorial Park's Lucile's Cottage into an art space gained momentum. As the dream approaches reality, we sought community input on details which will make this space a special asset of the community for generations to come.
During the winter of 2022, the Veasey Memorial Park team (architect included) hosted three community focus group conversations to receive feedback on specific design elements and uses of the space. The events were open to the public, with each event inviting input from Groveland residents, Merrimack Valley art organizers, and artists.
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The conversation dates and focuses were:
Merrimack Valley Artists Conversation
5:30 - 7 PM, Wednesday, December 14, via Zoom.
Groveland Community Conversation
5:30 - 7 PM, Wednesday, January 18, in person at Veasey Memorial Park
Merrimack Valley Art Organizers Conversation
5:30 - 7 PM, Wednesday, February 15, via Zoom
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Through our meeting with Groveland residents, we were humbled by the enthusiasm and support for Veasey Park, and the expressions of recognition of the important and singular community role Veasey Park has in Groveland and beyond. Indeed, through one of these focus groups emerged additional community support from Pentucket Art Foundation board member and powerhouse, Melissa Montello-Smith, who came to the Director of Veasey Park, Vanessa Lopez, with the proposal of bringing the fashion-show fundraiser, Rubbish to Runway, to Veasey Park in 2023 to raise funding for the renovation of Lucile's Cottage and for the purpose of bringing more art programming and artist studio space to the community. Joining Ms. Montello-Smith was Kim Dowling and R2R founder, Elizabeth Rose. For more about the R2R show at Veasey Park, click on the Rubbish to Runway or The Eagle Tribune banners below. We are thrilled that R2R plans to return to Veasey Park in June 2024!
Veasey Park serves the Merrimack Valley area as a warm and welcoming location for us to come together in community-led activities, be it through events by the Pentucket Arts Foundation, group exercising like the all-levels-welcome Hill Workouts with Karen Puopolo, literacy and art programming facilitated by Katrina Mancini, meetings for veterans with the American Legion by Dave Tuttle, support and education for wood-carving artists with expert Justin Gordon every Wednesday, fine art classes for children with Bagnall art instructor, Sara Cassavaugh, and Swing Dance practice and lessons by Greg Clarkson. For more about any of these programs, check out our events page. In addition to these community-member-led and organized classes or groups, Veasey Park relies on the support and championship of Groveland residents like the chair of the Groveland Conservation Commission, Mike Dempsey, Claire Walsh of the Groveland Historic Society, and Dianne Elardo of the Groveland Gardening Club and the Master Gardeners. Through the care of all of these community members, and so many more people and businesses, projects to improve and sustain Veasey Park have been undertaken and maintained, some receiving CPA funding. For more about how Groveland residents determine the spending of CPA funds, see our CPA page or the official CPA page which highlights CPA projects here in Groveland. To see how much the state matched Groveland's contributions and on their projects, see the Massachusetts government page. Renovating Lucile's Cottage into safe, usable space, is a significant undertaking, but accessible art programming and studio space for artists will be beneficial to Groveland now and in the future.
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For any questions related to the Lucile's Cottage project, please reach out to Vanessa Lopez, Director of Veasey Memorial Park, directly at vanessa@veaseypark.org.