Park and Parcel

There’s a portrait of Fannie Burr Look hanging in the Look Park Garden House that seems to cast a watchful eye on the sprawling property.

Are the flower gardens pruned? Are there people enjoying the pedal boats in the pond? Did the steam train go by already, sounding its whistle? If portraits could talk, it’s likely that Fannie Burr Look’s would have plenty to say.

In 1928, she became the impetus behind creating what is now one of the region’s largest and most diverse parks in the name of her late husband, Frank Newhall Look, a prominent businessman in the late 1800s and early 1900s, by gifting a 157-acre parcel of land to the city of Northampton (the park is in Florence).

Even today, signs of her influence remain, and help to move plans at Look Park forward.

Though city-owned, taxes are not used to finance any aspect of Look Park’s operation; it functions as a self-sustaining attraction governed by a six-person volunteer board of trustees. Ray Ellerbrook, Look Park’s executive director, said this was a stipulation that Fannie Burr Look set out for the park before its inception.

“Mrs. Look wanted no connection with the city,” he explained. “Making the mayor of Northampton a member ex-officio on the board of trustees was as far as she would go, and that’s the way it still is today.”

While that separation may have stemmed from a distrust of government on Look’s part, Ellerbrook said it has made for a self-contained business model at the park that has long allowed its staff to tap varied funding sources and make incremental improvements. Look provided the land, development funds, and a trust fund for ongoing maintenance, and today these funds are augmented by visitor fees, grants, and gifts.

“Mrs. Look was a woman ahead of her time,” he said. “Before her involvement, this was only farmland that the city thought was too far away to be of any use publicly.”

A New Destination

Over the years, as both Northampton and Florence have grown, however, the public has found several uses for Look Park, including as a concert venue (the open-air Pines Theater is on the grounds), a banquet facility, and a place for celebrations, in addition to serving as a family-oriented park offering children’s programs, a small zoo, paddleboats, day-camp sites, walking trails, a splash park, and a well-known train that chugs its way through the park on a regular basis.

Jillian Larkin, facilities manager at Look Park, said improvements are currently planned throughout the facility, in terms of both infrastructure and programming.

“We’re in a nice spot right now because we already offer so much, but we have room to grow as well,” she said, listing a few of the park’s popular features: the Sanctuary at Willow Lake, which can accommodate 150 people for weddings or other functions; a Victorian gazebo, suitable for smaller weddings; and the Dow Pavilion, the largest gathering space at the park, able to hold 200 people. In addition to these facilities, Look Park also has a ballfield, multiple playgrounds, and a ‘Picnic Store’ that offers light lunches and novelties.

Adding to this landscape of late is one of the most important developments already completed at the park, Larkin noted — the renovated Look Park Garden House, where Fannie Burr Look peers out over the grounds.

Completed in 2002, the renovation project converted the park’s former pool house into banquet and event space. The building can accommodate functions for up to 170 people, including weddings, receptions, and business meetings, with that last category being one that Larkin is looking to expand in the coming months.

“We have wi-fi, a built-in P.A. system, and I think this is a great place for corporate retreats,” she said. “Instead of having a coffee break, people can come here for a little bit of a nature break.”

Pooling Resources

Ellerbrook agreed that the Garden House has become a particular focus at the park of late.

It’s not the first time that corner of the park has been the center of the action; the former pool house once sat adjacent to a large pool that earned some local fame during its heyday; in fact, many Northampton and Florence residents were sad to see it go.

“The pool was a tremendous feature,” said Ellerbrook. “It was huge, and had multiple waterslides before safety concerns changed. When the trustees decided to close it, it was actually a controversial decision — people did not want to see that happen.

“But it was old,” he added. “It was cracked and in need of repairs that would have cost $500,000. It was time for it to go.”

The area the pool once occupied is now a small bumper-boat park and a playground, and the Garden House is gaining more recognition as a unique event space each year. Larkin said every weekend is generally booked, and she hopes to increase that pace to include mid-week functions.

“We’re getting there,” she said. “As we host more events, we’re able to show our different strengths as both a park and a venue. That helps us call attention to the role we can play in events for the whole family.”

Ellerbrook said that same goal is prompting renovations throughout the park, which are largely aimed at beautifying the space and making it more accessible to various groups of visitors.

The large fountain at the entrance of the park, for one, is being refurbished as part of a focus on ‘curb appeal,’ and the Look Park train station, a popular fixture for several years, is also being renovated and updated.

Outside of the park’s parameters, state and local projects now underway are also having an impact. A bike path is being extended to run through the park, and on Bridge Road where Look Park sits, a roundabout is being constructed that Ellerbrook hopes will ease traffic concerns.

The Eyes Have It

All the while, he said that family-oriented flavor Look Park has cultivated over the last 80 years is always in the forefront of his mind as improvements continue.

If for no other reason, he pays close attention to that mission to honor the wishes of Fannie Burr Look, whose picture keeps a discerning watch over the parcel of land that has become a fixture in Hampshire County.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]