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Stamford Gets Its First Look At The New Mill River Park

STAMFORD, Conn. — Stamford welcomed 12 acres of parkland in the middle of office and apartment buildings Thursday night with the official opening of Mill River Park.

The ribbon is cut Thursday night to officially open Mill River Park to Stamford.

The ribbon is cut Thursday night to officially open Mill River Park to Stamford.

Photo Credit: Anthony Buzzeo

“It’s really great for me to see it in reality,” said Milton Puryear, executive director of the park, comparing the park to all of the plans and sketches he saw during the its developmental stages.

With the park surrounded by so much stone and glass in the downtown buildings, he said he was looking to impress parkgoers with nature. That is why Olin was chosen to design it, he said, describing the firm as artists with landscape. 

“I want people, even if they have been here 100 times, to say, ‘Wow,” Puryear said adding that the jury is now out.

Some of the park’s early critics were impressed with what they saw.

“The best and the brightest will come to Stamford because of this park and the vision it shows,” U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said describing it as a “world-class park in world-class city.”

“There are only a handful of cities that have what we have,” Mayor Michael Pavia said of Mill River Park's urban setting.

The idea for Mill River Park has been around the city for a long time, even before the Mill River Park Collaborative started in 2002 and the campaign for the park started in 1997, said Arthur Selkowitz, chairman of the collaborative. It can be traced all the way back to 1920 when the city’s master plan called for a central park.

“It’s too bad they didn’t do it then, it would’ve been a lot cheaper, “Selkowtiz said. The total cost of the project is $100 million, which is being raised through a private-public partnership.

Thursday’s ribbon-cutting and opening gala was just the first in a weekend full of events celebrating the park’s opening. The other events include “Spielberg at Sunset” on Friday night, the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival on Sunday, and a day full of fun events on Saturday.

Find out more about Mill River Park and the collaborative behind it here.

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