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Fairfield's New Pocket Park Offers Environmental Oasis

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Fairfield officially opened a pretty pocket park last week, inviting residents to enjoy a tiny oasis of flowers and clover at the corner of Rockland Road and Wilson Street.

Fairfield First Selectman Mike Tetreau and Stephanie Barnes, president of the Greater Fairfield Board of Realtors, center, and town officials opened a new pocket park at Rockland Road and Wilson Street Thursday.

Fairfield First Selectman Mike Tetreau and Stephanie Barnes, president of the Greater Fairfield Board of Realtors, center, and town officials opened a new pocket park at Rockland Road and Wilson Street Thursday.

Photo Credit: Meredith Guinness
The new pocket park at Rockland Road and Wilson Street features indigenous plants and natural seating.

The new pocket park at Rockland Road and Wilson Street features indigenous plants and natural seating.

Photo Credit: Meredith Guinness
The new pocket park at Rockland Road and Wilson Street features indigenous plants and natural seating.

The new pocket park at Rockland Road and Wilson Street features indigenous plants and natural seating.

Photo Credit: Meredith Guinness

Funded in large part by a $4,500 Placemaking grant from the National Association of Realtors, the park is a testament to form and function.

“What we plant and what we do affects our rivers,” said Stephanie Barnes, president of the Greater Fairfield Board of Realtors.

The triangle dotted by boulders from the old Penfield Pavilion features indigenous plants, such as echinacea, swamp milkweed, coreopsis and golden rod designed to attract birds, bees and butterflies to the space.

All of the plantings encourage slow absorption of rain water so it does not end up in the town’s rivers. Berms to encourage less runoff are planted with Dutch white clover, which is impervious to winter salt and dog urine and adds nitrogen to the soil, said the park’s designer, Wade Caszatt of Sleepy Hollow Landscaping.

The boulders offer natural seating in place of manmade benches.

About two years in the planning, the park’s construction came together relatively fast, Barnes said. Town workers cleaned up the space and performed most of the prep work, and the Mill River Wetlands Committee partnered on the project.

“When we work with the Town of Fairfield, they work with us and we get things done,” Barnes said at the opening on Thursday.

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