Fulflex Field in Brattleboro is an eight-acre field that was used by hundreds of people every year for more than 60 years for softball, soccer, barbecues and frisbee games. All that ended this spring when the owner of the field, the Moore Company of Westerly, R.I., put up No Trespassing and For Sale signs.
A grassroots group, Friends of Fulflex Field, quickly formed to try to save the field before it's sold and paved. The Friends organized a community forum this summer in Brattleboro. More than 100 people showed up and listened to a keynote speech by Audrey Garfield, chair of the town select board. (Brattleboro has no mayor.)
One young graduate of the Brattleboro high school stood up at the forum and said, "If the town can't afford to save Fulflex Field, maybe it should sell the town common so Wal-Mart can build a store there too." Clearly, no one wanted to sell the town's central park, no matter how broke the town is.
That logic of public good over private profit was apparently lost on the Moore Company (though it should be noted that the company did allow free public use of its field for decades). Company president Peter Moore last week declined to comment on the community's desire to save his field. He referred all questions to his real estate agent, who said, with no apparent irony, "The highest and best use of that field is not recreation." Apparently a parking lot is preferable. A parking lot was exactly what was proposed by a local businessman who wanted to buy the field to expand his SUV, truck and car sales lot. A flurry of letters to the editors of local newspapers threatening a boycott squelched that plan.
The Friends, an all-volunteer group, recently completed a year of intensive work raising money to buy the field. The group asked for money from individuals and foundations. The amount they raised—which neither the Friends nor Moore's real estate agent would disclose—was inadequate. Moore wants $3.9 million for the field.
Peter Cooper of Brattleboro, a member of the Friends, said the group is now considering its next move. Among the options is asking for money from Brattleboro and the towns of Dummerston, Vermont and Chesterfield, N.H., both of which are about a mile from the field. The group could also ask the Brattleboro high school for money, since it has a much bigger tax base than the town of Brattleboro because it receives students and money from five towns.
Fulflex Field is located on Putney Road, near Interstate 91, exit 3. Old timers remember the days when Putney Road was a quiet track along the Connecticut River that passed alongside nothing but woods and dairy farms. Within a mile of Fulfex Field today are four gas stations, a Home Depot, a corporate chain supermarket, half a dozen corporate chain hotels, an "auto mall" and three other car dealerships. "The green space on Fulflex Field is the only thing on Putney Road that hasn't changed in my lifetime," said resident Wendy Barnard. "I would hate to see it go."
Despite the No Trespassing signs, a group of 15 or so people were seen this summer playing soccer on the field. After that, Moore let the grass grow too high for soccer balls to roll.
Of the people who showed up at the Friends' meeting this summer, 87 filled out a survey that the group had prepared. Among the results: more than three-quarters of the people said there was not currently enough "open, green space" in town. Some 85 percent said they agreed with the statement that "There is a significant link between public, open, green space and the physical and mental health of Brattleboro citizens."
For more information call Cooper at (802) 257-0639.
