Sculpture for the Assabet River Rail Trail

 The sculpture proposal was approved by the Select Board on 3 December 2024 and funding of $760 approved by Maynard Cultural Council on 10 December 2024. Installation expected by mid-summer 2025.

A group of Maynard residents is proposing to the Town of Maynard that sculptures be added to town land adjacent to the Assabet River Rail Trail. Of the other communities that ARRT passes through, Hudson has several wooden and metal sculptures and murals, Marlborough none, Acton none, Maynard six painted posts (see below) and a daffodil sculpture which is temporarily installed at the Marble Farm Historic Site when the daffodils are blooming. A proposal has been submitted to the Maynard Cultural Council for 2025 funding for one sculpture, so perhaps by this time next year there will be progress. 

When the 3.4 miles of Trail in Acton and Maynard were officially opened to users in August 2018, art had no part in the project. Thebudget had included some landscaping, meaning specifically the planting of hundreds of trees adjacent (but not TOO close) to the pavement. Subsequently a non-government organization - Trail of Flowers (www.trailofflowers.com) - was started in the fall of 2018 with the intent of beautifying the Trail via planting flowering bulbs, and pollinator-friendly flowering shrubs and trees adjacent to the Trail. As of the fall of 2024, TOF has raised and spent about $11,000 for plantings primarily in Acton and Maynard, with some daffodil and grape hyacinth bulbs planted in Marlborough, and intention to expand to Hudson in 2025.

Painted posts salvaged from the ArtSpace Pollinator
Meadow project and getting a fresh coat of varnish
before installation along ARRT north of Summer St.

In October 2023, the ArtSpace Honeybee Meadow project offered to donate six painted posts to the Town of Maynard for relocation along the Assabet River Rail Trail. The Honeybee Meadow had been created in 2016 on ArtSpace property with a combination of donor and state governemnt grant funding. Later renamed Pollinator Meadow in recognition that many insects other than just honeybees required flowering plants to provide nectar and pollen, the project was let go fallow after ArtSpace closed in 2020. Each post - six feet tall when installed with the bottom anchored in gravel and soil - includes a pollinator-informative plaque at the top. Users of the Rail Trail find the artwork and information to be pause-worthy. The same east side of the Rail Trail has been planted with Forsythia and pollinator-friendly Beauty Bushes chosen to obscure the view of Enterprise Rent-a-car and Emerald Acres. 

My idea for first-year sculpture

For this initial sculpture project, the idea is that the Maynard group would meet with metal shop students enrolled at the Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School to design a work that was within the students' capabilities. Maynard volunteers would then be responsible for pouring a concrete slab as an anchor for the sculpture. The Town of Maynard has liability insurance covering injuries that occur in town parks; the Rail Trail, being on town land, would also be covered. Of course, design and placement would need to assure that there would be no sharp edges too close to the pavcment of the Trail. One of the proposed ideas is of a combination of a bicyclist knocking down a pedestrian (sketch). While some are of the opinion that this is too foreboding, it would definitely be more memorable that just the bicycle/bicyclist.

Another modest idea would be a 'wheel' six feet tall, with the spokes being flat strips of metal with Maynard history facts laser cut into the metal. Examples: Amory Maynard 1804-1890; Woolen mill 1846-1950; Town of Maynard April 19, 1871; Lorenzo Maynard 1829-1904; Digital Equipment Company 1957-1998; Clock Tower built 1892; Electric trolley 1901-1923; Monster.com 1998-2014; and so on. This could also be done for Acton, Hudson and Marlborough. 

If the first year's proposal succeeds, the group is considering a much more ambitious sculpture plan for future years. All that would call for corporate and government donations, requests for proposals from established metalwork sculptors and professional installations. Thinking big!!!

DONATIONS FOR TRAIL OF FLOWERS

Tulips at Marble Farm site blooming spring 2024

If you have enjoyed use of the Assabet River Rail Trail and the flowering installations, please consider donating to Trail of Flowers. Funds are needed to continue to add plants in all communities bordering the Trail, including the daffodil display at the Marble Farm Historic Site  (across Route 27 from Christmas Motors, Maynard). In the fall of 2023, tulips were added inside the fence at the Marble Farm site with great success - an additional 125 bulbs will be added fall of 2024. Elsewhere along the Rail Trail volunteers will be planting 1,000 daffodil bulbs. The bulbs were purchased as a mix of early-, mid- and late season blooming so as to stretch the bloom period.

So, please, as individuals or families, donate $20 or more via PayPal to damark51@gmail.com or via Venmo to www.venmo.com/u/DavidAMark51. Businesses are asked to donate at least $100. Whether you donate or not, if you wish to be kept informed of TOF volunteer planting opportunities then send an email to damark51@gmail.com. Thank you.