Enjoying Their Independence At

 Fairfield Hills, The People’s Park

By Dottie Evans

On the morning of July 4, 2005, between 9 and 10 am, people seeking a certain kind of freedom headed for the hills –– Fairfield Hills.

Whether they rode their horses through the fields behind the high meadow, strolled with their children and dogs along the quiet sidewalks, read a book under the shade of an 80-year-old maple tree, or sped on bikes or roller blades down the wide, empty streets, one thing seemed clear to this observer. Newtown residents and their various animals had found a safe and friendly place for the pursuit of recreational happiness.

While these residents might cast a woeful eye upon the crumbling buildings and read with dismay the news stories about the pesticide-laden soil surrounding those ancient brick behemoths looming darkly beyond the green lawns, still they were drawn to the place for its beauty and tranquility.

For the families who walked golden retrievers up the meadow road or pushed strollers down the paved walkways with toddlers and dogs in tow, for the lone jogger logging minutes and miles along the tree-lined sidewalk of Mile Hill South, Fairfield Hills had already found its future identity.

In this particular place and time, no master plan was needed.

As it stands today, there are very few regular functions going on at Fairfield Hills. The short list includes Kevin’s Community Center in Canaan House that provides free medical care services for Newtown’s uninsured and low-income residents, and local soccer and softball teams that enjoy weekly contests on the existing playing fields.

The Booth Library Labor Day Book Sale that saw such a successful run at Bridgeport Hall will again take place on the campus, but this fall’s fundraiser will be held under a massive tent to be erected near the entrance and then taken down.

An All-Day Birthday Bash for the town’s 300th will take place on August 6 featuring a vintage baseball game, a townwide family picnic, an antique car show, and fireworks.

But most of the time, Fairfield Hills is a pretty quiet place and people seem to like it that way.

Even as the Legislative Council enacts a nonpolicy making authority [which it was set to do after a public hearing on Wednesday, July 6] some residents are uneasy about what such an authority might do to change the place. The more outspoken members of the amorphous grass-roots organization called Friends of Fairfield Hills question the need for structures or development of any kind. Tear down all the bricks and mortar, they say. Haul away the bad soil. Just leave the trees.

While the debate continues following the town’s official acquisition of the 186-acre sprawling campus, Fairfield Hills has already stamped its identity upon an increasing number of Newtown residents –– or so it seemed on the morning of July 4, 2005.

In the tradition of all outdoor public spaces that are free of traffic or commercial enterprise, Fairfield Hills on our national holiday was a parklike place for everyone to enjoy.