Exit the Highway and Find a Recreational Haven in Willington

On these gorgeous spring-to-summer days, the best escapes might be outside. Take the dog to the park for a long walk or plop down your lawn chair to watch the local kids play ball. There’s a new place in Willington that's just right.

The River Road Athletic Complex on Route 32 took about 13 years to make it to its opening day Saturday, June 4, but that’s not bad considering the hurdles. Hurdles like 9/11, an environmental debate over protecting a major aquifer beneath the site, and a gutsy idea to grab state-owned land to use for town playing fields and recreation.

And yet, it’s happened. The park, just off Exit 70 on I-84 and surrounded by forested hills, sports a baseball field (used by Willington Little League the last few seasons), a soccer field, a “beach” volleyball court on a sand pile surface, a basketball court painted a lovely blue, a state-of-the-art playscape for the littler ones, a new picnic pavilion and a one-third-mile walking track that borders the whole complex.

Pets are welcome, and the park is even outfitted with disposable bag dispensers to handle the inevitable deposits.

“We don’t have a real gathering place other than our town green, but this one spot is here,” Willington’s First Selectman Christina Mailhos said after the official program. “It just makes me happy driving by and seeing kids playing basketball and little kids playing on the playscape, people walking on the path and hanging out for games.” Mailhos, an advocate for a healthy lifestyle, points to the safe, flat park site, open to the public and situated away from traffic.

Former First Selectman John Patton, who was there when the idea was a germ, was asked to give the project’s history. He credited Robin Knight, owner of Knight & Sons Construction Inc., with the idea to ask the state for the land so the town could build playing fields. That was after Patton and the town persuaded the state not to move a public works facility to the site in order to protect the aquifer. So, going back now to ask for a sweet deal on the land was, well, ballsy, Patton says.

“I don’t have a lot of good ideas but I like to think I can recognize one,” he says.

Knight became involved after a plan for the National Guard to clean and prepare the site was dashed when 9/11 struck and the Guard was needed elsewhere. Knight and his company pitched in to work on the site.

Patton then sought the help of State Sen. Tony Guglielmo, who put together meetings, sponsored legislation and helped the town procure the state land. In February 2009, Patton says, “Willington had 8 acres for $1,000.”

The project cost about $600,000, $150,000 of which came from a Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant. Patton says such a project would normally cost a town two or three times as much to build, were it not for the large in-kind donations of services.

At the opening Saturday, Joe Colangelo, parks and recreation commission chairman, saluted the volunteers – Boy Scouts who sealed the rail fence, parents who cleaned the fields, contractors who gave more than their contracts required – who brought the park alive. And he said of town parks and rec director Teri Gareau, “she creates programs for all of us.”

On Saturday, Willington and Mansfield teams in the Farm League played baseball. A soccer game was in motion. Shooting contests dominated the basketball court. Town staff and volunteers served up hotdogs and hamburgers. And cute dogs collected new fans while a DJ kept the tunes turning.

But any given day, you can go to River Road Athletic Complex and find some peace of your own or organize that pickup beach volleyball game you’ve been hankering for. Heck, wear the bikini, like the Olympians do.

River Road Athletic Complex is on Route 32, just north of the I-84 highway overpass at Exit 70. You can donate to the next stage of park development by buying a $50 personalized brick at the base of the flagpole or contributing to new park benches, $300 each. For information, call Willington Parks and Recreation at 860-429-3108 or visit willingtonct.org.