The Maplewood Township Committee dedicated its January 1, 2024 Reorganization Meeting to the Maplewood Memorial Park Conservancy, with soon-to-be-installed Mayor Nancy Adams reading a proclamation in the Conservancy’s honor.
Since its founding in 2017, the conservancy has helped to transformed Maplewood’s “Central Park” — leveraging public and private funds to plant 175 trees and 650 shrubs since 2018, provide educational programming, sponsor events, provide monthly cleanup, and restore areas of the park to their former glory.
Conservancy Chair and founder Deborah Lyons thanked the Township Committee and conservancy liaison Nancy Adams for the recognition during her comments at the meeting, accepting the honor on behalf of the MMPC board: Matt Brehm, Andrea Curley, Mary Durante, Virginia Kurshan, Gary Nelson, Susan Newberry, Dennis Percher, Lara Tomlin and Daniel Wright, as well as landscape consultant Jennifer Ryan, “who is the architect of everything we do in the park.”
Maplewood Memorial Park Conservancy board members and soon-to-be-Mayor Nancy Adams at the January 1, 2024 Maplewood Township Committee Reorganization Meeting.
Alluding to the fact that the park’s designers included the Olmsted Brothers — the landscape architectural firm responsible for Manhattan’s famed Central Park under founder Frederick Law Olmsted — Lyons noted, “We are so fortunate that a hundred years ago, this small new municipality had the civic pride and ambition to hire some of the best landscape architects of their day to create a great public space. A place that as Percival Gallagher of the Olmsted firm noted, must reflect the ideals of the town. A pleasant place of meeting, an attractive place to pass through from one part of town to another, a place by its beauty to draw one to it …. Just such a place guides our efforts today.”
Lyons thanked the many municipal departments that aided in the work, most notably Public Works, Community Services and Engineering; partnering non-profit and civic organizations such as the Historic Preservation Commission, Maplewood Garden Club, YouthNet, the Parkview Neighborhood Association, and Open Space Trust Fund; and a raft of volunteers including the “Weeding Wednesday Crew” and the “Trash Pandas”.
“Thank you and Happy New Year,” said Lyons. “Go out and enjoy the park in 2024!”
For more information on the conservancy, or to volunteer, contact info@maplewoodmemorialparkconservancy.org.
MMPC volunteers at work in 2023.
Read the proclamation here:
WHEREAS, each year, the Maplewood Township Committee, during our reorganization meeting, wishes to dedicate the meeting to a person, a cause, or an organization; and,
WHEREAS, for our 2024 meeting, we wish to highlight the work and goals of the Maplewood Memorial Park Conservancy; and,
WHEREAS, designed over 100 years ago by the renowned landscape architecture firms of Brinley and Holbrook and the Olmsted Brothers and has been recognized as a beautiful and historic park, beloved by residents and widely admired; and,
WHEREAS, Memorial Park is listed in the National and New Jersey Registers of Historic Places and was designated one of New Jersey’s Great Public Places by the American Planning Association; and,
WHEREAS, parks and green spaces are not only valuable to a community regarding its aesthetic and property values but also provide space for recreation and physical activity, improve mental health, and create a sense of community; and,
WHEREAS, from having the privilege to take a walk in nature during lunch, we can not be more lucky to have the Maplewood Memorial Park Conservancy board and volunteers as partners in not only maintaining but improving Maplewood Memorial Park and providing educational programs about history and nature and engaging residents with events such as Painters in the Park; and,
WHEREAS, the public-private partnership between Maplewood Township and the Maplewood Memorial Park Conservancy began in 2017, and since then, together, through grants and donations, has raised almost $50,000, which has resulted in over 650 shrubs and perennial plants and 200 trees added to the park; and,
WHEREAS, the Conservancy has undertaken many restoration and enhancement projects to restore the park to its former glory and beauty with thoughtful respect to the historical design and plantings. These projects, designed by Conservancy landscape designer Jennifer C. Ryan, include the multi-phase Flagpole Hill restoration along Dunnell, the Vietnam Memorial redesign, the dedication plaque at the entrance to the park, and multiple restorations along the river and park borders; and,
WHEREAS, without the fundraising, talent, and devoted volunteer labor, the Township would never have been able to restore the park to the extent the Conservancy has in this brief time; and,
WHEREAS, the Conservancy has dedicated countless hours of volunteer time planning projects and installing plantings, and has developed a comprehensive master plan to guide the replacement of shrubs and trees.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT PROCLAIMED I, on behalf of the Township Committee of Maplewood, do hereby proclaim 2024 as the year of the Maplewood Memorial Park Conservancy. Together, for seven years this November, the Township and Conservancy have done great things, and as the park approaches its 93rd year, we look forward to working with them as we approach its 100th anniversary.
