Hippo Park a Real ‘Facelift’

If you’ve been in Brookfield’s Hippo Park this week, you probably noticed some big changes.

First the old picket fence—rickety and rotted after almost 30 years—came down Wednesday evening, Aug. 3. This was stage one of a multi-stage renovation to beautify the park before the commemorative ceremony for the 30^th anniversary of the installation of Jim Sardonis’ hippo statue on August 21.

About a dozen Brookfield residents Brookfield showed up the evening of August 3 to disassemble and stack the sections of the fence, all of which were carted away by the Brookfield road crew the next day. Meanwhile, the trees in the park received some long-overdue trimming. 

At 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6, about two dozen residents, and a small tractor driven by resident Al Wilker, made their way back into the park to tackle stage two—laboriously digging up overgrown wild rose bushes (Rosa rugosa), and cleaning out the weeds that had for years competed with the roses to overtake the old fencing.

Stage three of the renovation campaign followed—carefully tilling and raking out the swath of parkland forming the meter-wide edge of the park, prior to stage four—the installation of new 36-in. fencing attached to the existing posts, only a few of which had to be moved.

Then came stage five—replanting rose bushes at each fence post—and sending out the call that the extra rose bushes are stacked at the edge of the park for any residents looking to add Rosa rugosa to their gardens.

Stage six, the reseeding of the perimeter of Hippo Park, will be completed soon. The Brookfield volunteers seek everyone’s help to "keep off the grass" until the new green carpet is well established. It is expected that park maintenance will be much enhanced by this community effort, and a small crew of Rosa rugosa lovers have committed to caring for the rose bushes long-term.

The town of Brookfield paid for fencing for this park beautyfication project. All labor was donated, organized by the Brookfield Community Partnership with participation from residents all over town.