Start the Bidding: Fairy Spring Fundraising Efforts Continue
By ELIZABETH COOPER
COOPERSTOWN
They say you can’t put a price tag on love, but when it comes to Fairy Spring Park, maybe you can.
The local community has raised more than $250,000.00 to help pay for repairs and upgrades to the beloved watering hole on the east side of Otsego Lake.
“It’s exciting how inclusive fundraising has been,” said Susie Knight, the member of Cooperstown Friends of the Parks who is spearheading the project. “We have gifts ranging from $20.00 to $50,000.00 and it really feels like the true definition of a community project.”
The fund drive started about a year ago and the plan was to raise $250,000.00 over two years. The first 75 percent of that was raised in just five months and by spring the goal had been met.
As often happens, the project’s cost has increased, due to in large part to changes in the costs of materials, so the fund raising will continue.
That’s where a special gift from local artist Janet Munro comes in.
Her art is in collections at the Smithsonian and the Museum of American Folk Art and will be the subject of an exhibit at Fenimore Art Museum this fall.
Munro, a septuagenarian, has been painting local scenes in her distinctive folk art style for decades and now she has created a painting of Fairy Spring, which is being auctioned for the cause.
The painting depicts a glorious scene of Fairy Spring at its finest, in hues of blue, green and brown. Children play and paddle in the water while adults talk on the pebbly shore. Families picnic above on red checked tablecloths, while others stand on the planned deck and gaze out upon it all.
“I wanted to show lots of people using it,” she said. “Things you would see there. Mallard ducks. Everybody is doing something special. Families. All ages. All kinds of people having fun.”
Most of Munro’s 5,000-plus paintings include water, whether a lake, snow, a river or a pond, and this one is no exception, but it is one of the few that doesn’t show the sky, she said.
“Normally I would paint a horizontal landscape,” she said. “However, this had to be a vertical painting with no sky. I almost never do that, but I had to show the lodge and the lake, so it had to look up from the water.”
That choice also helps convey the cool, almost murky quality of the pleasant little park.
Munro said she had spent time with her family there when her children were young.
“It’s extremely rustic and that’s a good thing,” she said, but added, “I think the new changes are going to be wonderful.”
Munro, now 76, is in a wheelchair, and the project includes ADA accessible ramps and bathrooms, which the 83-year-old park doesn’t currently offer.
Munro is a dedicated enthusiast of local parks. This is the second time her work has been leveraged to help fund a local park. In 1989, she painted a joyous scene of Three Mile Point’s beach, filled with happy children gleefully jumping in the water, swimming and building sandcastles. Readers may also be familiar with her depiction of the Winter Carnival festivities at Lakefront Park.
The Village of Cooperstown, which owns Fairy Spring, has already allocated a separate $224,000.00 to the project, so the total funding would be close to $500,000.00. Knight said the Friends of the Parks are pursuing other funding opportunities to ensure that the project is done right.
The land Fairy Spring sits upon was originally given to the Village of Cooperstown by Robert Sterling Clark and its unique Works Progress Administration-era buildings are largely intact and unchanged, contributing to the park’s unique rustic charm. Now, those buildings are in need of repair, and in some cases don’t meet the requirements of modern accessibility laws.
Also, Fairy Spring is located on a steep embankment, so its driveways, buildings and parking are crammed together in a way that makes it less likely visitors will use certain spaces. It’s also difficult for people like Munro with physical disabilities to navigate.
“We really believe in the idea that the parks are for everyone and we hope this makes it a more inclusive space,” Knight said. The steep embankment may still make it difficult for some people with handicaps to get to the water, however.
Here’s What’s Planned
- The pavilion building would be updated and a deck with a lake view and ADA-accessible ramps added. The building has always lacked its own bathrooms, making it less appealing for gatherings, so an ADA-accessible one would now be added.
- The main driveway would be rerouted behind the existing pavilion building to make way for the deck and ensure that transportation lanes don’t interfere with park enjoyment.
- The existing road that winds through the park will be reconfigured to allow for a dedicated pedestrian and cyclist lane. Handicapped accessible parking spaces would also be created.
- The summer caretaker residence has never had its own bathroom, making it harder to find people willing to take the job. One would be added.
- An additional ADA bathroom, a revamped changing area and a lifeguard break room are also on the list,
- Depending on funding outcomes, deck furniture, new signage and improved access to the water may be options. If any money is left over, it would be placed in a stewardship fund for future park maintenance.
“We hope to break ground in the fall after Labor Day,” Knight said.
How To Bid
As for the auction of the painting, 100 percent of the proceeds will go to the project, Knight said.
The painting is on view at Mohican Flowers at 207 Main Street in Cooperstown. Those interested in participating in the silent auction can e-mail their bid to Projectfairyspring@gmail.com. Bid status can be checked online on the Cooperstown Friends of the Parks Facebook page, or by using the QR code at right.
The auction will be closed on Sunday, July 12 at 5:59 p.m.
Munro’s painting also will be on display at the Cooperstown Farmers’ Market on Saturday, June 27. In addition, limited edition signed prints, unsigned prints, cards and $10.00 raffle tickets for framed, signed prints can be purchased at the farmers’ market that day or at Mohican Flowers.
