An Art Walk and Edible Avenue, originally planned for the Bradford Rail Trail Extension, will now be placed at Riverside Park.
The project, a joint effort of Team Haverhill, Creative Haverhill, Haverhill Garden Club and Haverhill’s Brightside, will connect a sidewalk near the ballfields at the eastern side of Riverside Park with a state-funded trail constructed along the Merrimack River behind the park and the Rivers Edge Plaza. The avenue will feature sculptures as well as trees, plants and shrubs with edible parts.
“This project has been a long time coming,” said Haverhill Mayor Melinda E. Barrett. “I am excited that the Art Walk and Edible Avenue will have a home at the Riverside Trail at Riverside Park, which is undergoing significant improvements. Trails are a great benefit to offer a community. To be able to provide the public with an opportunity to view art and learn about nature, not just see it, while out on a trail is even better!”
Creative Haverhill, a nonprofit community arts organization, and Sarah LoVasco, of SJ Art Consulting will solicit sculptures from artists, while the Garden Club will oversee the mostly native plantings. Work on the Edible Avenue is expected to be completed by next year. The artwork is scheduled for installation by next summer.
The Art Walk and Edible Avenue project is being paid for by a $30,000 donation from the Pentucket Bank Charitable Foundation and grants from the Haverhill Cultural Council, Massachusetts Federation of Garden Clubs, Haverhill Garden Club and Haverhill’s Brightside. Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School students built two handicapped accessible raised planting beds that will be installed along the path. Nunan Florist & Greenhouses is contributing shrubs, bushes and plants. Signs and brochures will explain how the plants can be used as food for people, birds, bees and other pollinators.
Ann Jacobson, chair of the Team Haverhill Art Walk and Edible Avenue Committee, explained the project is able to move forward “after experiencing a bump in the road when the original location proved infeasible.”
The walkway along the Merrimack River is being paid for with a Mass Trails grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.