Art Lovers Trampling Park: Annual Exhibit Makes Downtown Park ‘Unsightly’

CHATHAM – Every summer for the past decade, crowds flock to Kate Gould Park to view the Art in the Park exhibit, a collection of sharks and whales created by local artists and sponsored by area businesses. It’s the chamber of commerce’s only money-making event, and its income helps support the other celebrations the chamber sponsors throughout the year.

 The popularity of the display, however, is creating a problem in the park. The massive foot traffic between June and August destroys the grass and hard-packs the ground in the area of the exhibit near the park’s Main Street entrance. By the time the whales and sharks are cleared out, there’s not enough growing time left to re-establish the grass, leaving the area looking bare and unsightly.

 Over the objections of the department of public works and the community services department, the select board last week agreed to allow Art in the Park to be held in Kate Gould Park again this coming summer, but urged the chamber and fellow-sponsor the Chatham Merchants Association to work with town officials on a way to better protect that very visible section of the park or consider relocating the exhibit.

 “We really need to think about how we’re going to use the park and what we want it to look like,” said select board member Jeffrey Dykens.

 While agreeing that Art in the Park is “a fabulous event,” board members said the Main Street entrance should be kept up because that’s where most people view or enter the park to participate in its many activities, including popular summer band concerts. Once the Art in the Park exhibit ends and the whales and sharks are removed, “it’s just unsightly,” said board member Shareen Davis.

 “The grass dies, the ground gets compacted and there’s really no chance for us to re-establish that grass growth at the end of the season,” said DPW Director Rob Faley. The soil needs to be rototilled, fertilized and planted with new grass seed, but there isn’t enough growing time remaining, he said, and the cycle begins all over again the following season.

 “Unless pedestrians are kept off the grass or the venue for Art in the Park is changed, as contentious as it may be, DPW does not support issuing a permit for this event,” Faley wrote in an email to the board. Hosting Art in the Park and wanting the park to look nice are “two different perspectives, but I don’t think both can happen,” he told the select board Feb. 11. 

 Director of Community Services Leah LaCross said she shared Faley’s concerns and, in an email to the board, suggested that other locations be explored.

 Revenue from the Art in the Park online auction topped $150,000 this year. Half went toward artist commissions, $5,000 to Monomoy Community Services and $1,000 toward the Josh Stello Memorial Scholarship. Minus other fees, the event netted $38,000, according to budgets provided by the chamber. None of the chamber’s other annual events, such as Christmas by the Sea or the Easter Egg Hunt, bring in revenue, according to chamber board member Kristin Muller. Donations solicited at Oktoberfest brought in $7,700 (the select board killed a plan to charge admission), but the event still had a $6,000 operating loss, she said.

 Art in the Park is “literally the only thing we do all year that makes any money,” Muller said at the board’s Feb. 11 meeting. “The money we make with Art in the Park pays for all the things we do the rest of the year.” Art in the Park has been used as a template for events in other Massachusetts communities, she added. “It’s an extremely successful program.”

 A beautification committee that includes chamber members, town officials and other stakeholders, such as the Chatham Garden Club and Friends of Trees, has been looking at options for improving the area where Art in the Park is held, Muller said, such as installing hardscape rather than turf. In a memo to the board, she said the committee suspended its meetings last summer and needs to engage a professional landscape designer and a tree expert to move forward. The committee has money for preliminary work, and hopes to develop a public-private partnership to come up with both improvement and maintenance plans. In her memo to the board, Muller asked for permission for the committee to move forward.

 Art in the Park is just one of many events that take place in Kate Gould Park, officials noted. Chatham Band summer concerts, Shakespeare in the Park and Oktoberfest all draw people to the patch of green in the center of town, although most happen around the band stand, away from the Main Street entrance. Pumpkin People in the Park line the brick walkway through the park, which doesn’t have a major impact on the grass, said Faley.

 It’s not just the foot traffic that impacts the entrance area. Large shade trees make it difficult to grow grass in that area as well. 

 “I think grass is going to be difficult to grow there even if Art in the Park weren’t there trampling the grass down,” said Dykens. “I’d love to have it all green,” but because it’s so popular, the annual exhibit has “really become an integral part of the community” and should continue, he said.

 Because of that popularity, not allowing Art in the Park “doesn’t seem to me like a balanced approach to the problem,” said board Chair Michael Schell. He supported granting a permit for this summer while the beautification committee develops plans to make that section of the park more resilient. 

 “We have a profile and a reputation that really goes beyond our borders,” Schell said. “And I think this is an example of one of the reasons why and one of the things we do that attracts people.”

 The board voted to permit the Art in the Park exhibit in Kate Gould Park from June 18 to Aug. 14. Also approved were the Easter Egg Hunt for April 19; Pumpkin People in the Park Oct. 9 to 31; Oktoberfest for Saturday, Oct. 18; display of a buoy tree on the town offices lawn at the corner of Main and Cross streets from Nov. 20 to Jan. 20; and the Christmas by the Sea stroll Friday, Dec. 12. Permission for a series of three to four block parties over the summer will be sought when dates are determined.

 Muller said the chamber is considering bringing back a spring event, such as the Spring Fling or Blessing of the Fleet celebrations held in the past, possibly in 2026.