Parks officials last week voted unanimously in favor of a youth sports organization’s proposal to fund and help plan for the planting of trees by a softball field in Waveny.
The stump of the tree behind the backstop at the Orchard Field in Waveny. Credit: Michael Dinan
An iconic tree located behind the backstop at the “Orchard Field” at Waveny recently came down, prompting New Canaan Softball parents to plan for its replacement, according to Jeff Fortmann, a town resident and father of two children who serves on the organization’s board and who swam short-distance events in the early-1990s for the New Canaan Y team.
“That tree was beloved,” Fortmann told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission at their regular meeting, held Oct. 14 via videoconference.
Softball parents consulted with Recreation Director Steve Benko and Parks Superintendent John Howe, and have developed a plan to raise $5,000 toward purchase of trees. One softball parent, Brian Granskog of Exterior Living LLC, has offered to donate time and equipment for the project, Fortmann said.
Fortmann said that after discussing the replacement of the felled tree behind the backstop, New Canaan Softball talked about how the Orchard Field got its name—it had been the site of an orchard, maintained by the Laphams, who were its owners prior to the town’s acquisition of the property in 1967—and thought, “could we plant some apple trees to create an orchard” along the right-field line. (Fortmann said ideas for plantings also include sugar maples and lindens.)
The Commission voted 11-0 to support the proposal. Commissioners include Carl Mason, Gene Goodman, Francesca Segalas, Doug Richardson, Sally Campbell, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Haberstroh, Matthew Konspore, Laura Costigan, Chair Rona Siegel and Hank Green.
Siegel called it “an amazing opportunity for us.”
The Orchard Field is adjacent to the main softball parking lot. Town officials have approved a number of capital improvements to the Orchard Field and abutting “Water Tower Field,” in recent years, including taller backstops, dugout canopies and additional lighting.
The Commission asked whether officials had discussed the timing of planting the trees (sooner the better, they can be planted as late as December) and their maintenance (they’ll just need some pruning, there’s irrigation already there).
The proposal has been met with wide support from the softball community, including the men’s recreational league that plays on adjacent fields in the summer, Fortmann said.
Fortmann said one of his kids who plays softball here is in 8th grade and the parents like him asked themselves, “How can my daughter and her teammates somehow maybe get involved in seeing this and maybe have kids of her own one day and say, I planted that tree at Waveny?”
Fortmann said the increasingly popular league is drawing more softball players each year, so it’s growing just like the players themselves.
“And it’s sort of symbolic to plant trees and have them grow with them,” he said.