The Board of Selectmen last week approved a $62,100 contract with a Ridgefield-based company to repair the gazebo in Waveny Park.
The gazebo at Waveny. Credit: Michael Dinan
The company, Alden Bailey, has all supplies in stock to do the work, according to Bill Oestmann, superintendent of buildings in the Department of Public Works.
The gazebo’s roof needs repair “and the structure itself is needing a little cleaning up,” Oestmann told the selectmen at their Aug. 23 meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference.
“Kids over the years have done a little vandalism to it,” Oestmann said.
He added, “It’s because people can see all the roof missing tiles, it’s coming apart a little bit. It definitely needs work.”
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted 3-0 in favor of the contract.
“It’s in desperate need of repair,” Moynihan said. “If we don’t do it we are going to lose it.”
Williams said, “Needs to be done.”
Located at the south end of the Japanese maple walk that leads to the fountain east of the main house at the park, the gazebo is a highly visible structure from the field behind the Waveny House balcony as well as the sledding hill. Last month, the selectmen approved a $70,000 contract to replace two bluestone walkways that run south and east of the fountain (toward the gazebo and the pond).
The Latin inscription over the front entrance of the Gazebo is, “Quieti et Musis”, which means” For Quiet and the Muses”. The Muses are the nine Greco-Roman goddesses of the arts and sciences. They live on Mount Parnassus in Greece but may occasionally visit Waveny. “Muses” in this instance is a metaphor for any creative activity.
Even dilapidated the Gazebo is charming, but it will be great to see it restored.