Mosaico Park on Wood Street

Have you noticed the new and colorful paint job at Mosaico Park at the corner of Wood and Franklin Streets?
The park is getting a make over with help from the Bristol Department of Parks and Recreation (Walter Burke), The Town of Bristol, Mosacio (Diana Campbell), RWU, Tony Teixeira and last but not least Gary Watros. After Gary did such a grand job of organizing and designing Mrs. Perry's Garden across from Topsides at Silver Creek, Diana Campbell, executive director of Mosaico, asked him if he might be interested in doing a rejuvenation of Mosaico Park. The answer was a resounding YES! Gary created the color scheme (approved by Mosaico, the Town of Bristol and the Rec Dept) and with help from RWU freshman and Diana C. painted the concrete benches and planters. He then ordered Mums and bulbs and with the help of RWU students and Tony Teixeira planted over 300 bulbs - mostly tulips and daffodils.

To quote from Gary:
"The color scheme was guided by the ethnic coloring of some neighborhood houses and the colors used by Mosaico in their logo.
In addition to proper maintenance, the park needed to relate better to the surrounding ethnic community and to incorporate diverse plantings that might invoke the Azores. Most importantly, it needed an infusion of color."

"In late August, a contingent of RWU freshmen helped Diana Campbell and me remove weeds, shrubs and trash from the park and stain the benches Antique Wine. Walter Burke from the Parks and Recreation Department arranged to have 8 yards of fill delivered. Then, the students helped plant some mums. These were meant only to provide some temporary color this fall. In late October, Tony Teixeira helped me plant over 300 spring bulbs."

Gary is growing a collection of xeric perennials (plants requiring no watering once established) in his garden for transplanting to Mosaico next spring. They are mostly plants that proved successful this year in Mrs. Perry's garden along Silver Creek. They adhere to the classic yellow, blue, white color scheme plus some orange and purple. There will also be some blue hydrangeas evocative of the Azores.
(Most or all of the plantings were paid for by Gary Watros as a donation to Mosaico CDC.)

Just goes to show what a few people can do with a little bit of leadership and a 'can do' attitude! Thanks to all involved for a fabulous job! We look forward to seeing the blast of color in the spring and hope the park becomes a neighborhood hang out! (Photo above shows Gary putting in the new color scheme.)