‘Ladies’ raise about $2,000 at fundraiser for Weston Green

A crowd of about 125 turned out for the picnic fundraiser on — and for — the Weston Green. Chester Telegraph photo

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More than 125 people turned out on Monday Aug. 17 to support the  Ladies of the Green in Weston. More formally known as the  Farrar Park Association, the “ladies” make up the  group that owns and maintains the Weston Green.

Monday night’s picnic and concert by the Blue Flames steel drum band was a fundraiser to support their work.

The Ladies of the Green prepare raffle prizes for the drawing. Chester Telegraph photo

The association,  was created by an act of the Vermont General Assembly in November 1886 to establish a public park in Weston. The act named nine women — before women even had the vote — who would be the first members of a self-perpetuating board.

That group turned a pond, which had become swampy and polluted by industrial waste, into an park and its successors continue to care for it today.

According to board member Annie Fujii, the Green is in need of tree work and the signature cast iron railing that surrounds the park suffers from road salt damage that will either need sandblasting or elements will need to be replaced. Fujii said that the association has the wooden forms used to cast new posts for the historic fence.

The Blue Flames — from left, Vicky Linville, Jim Linville, Barbara Wells and Bob Wells — entertained the crowd on the Weston Green. Photo provided

Raffles, which featured prizes from Weston businesses, raised a total of $1,800 while everyone from babes in arms to elderly couples picnicked and listened to tunes ranging from island music to the American songbook played on steel drums by Jim and Vicky Linville and Bob and Barbara Wells.