Tiverton Council Oks $10,000 For Bulgarmarsh Pavilion

The Tiverton Town Council awarded $10,000 on Monday to help fund the installation of an open-air pavilion at .

The 20-foot by 20-foot pavilion will represent the final piece of a three-year improvement effort at the state park. Gary Rose, chairman to the town’s Recreation Commission said he hopes to have the pavilion installed by August.

“I think that a pavilion would enhance that park so that it could truly have something for everybody,” said Rose. “Between the skate park, basketball court, and small-child playground, if we could do this and maybe put together music on a Saturday night - a band or maybe a play from on of out local players and have a little area where we could do some performing arts, that’s kind of the idea behind the pavilion.”

On Monday night, Maintenance Director Robert Martin asked the Town Council for a $5,000 grant to help fund the pavilion. Martin estimates the entire cost including installation will cost more like $20,000.

The council however decided to transfer $10,000 into the recreation account.

“We thought the park would greatly benefit the residents of Tiverton, so we thought to ask for the money from the Town Council and see if this was something they could help out with,” said Rose. “Up to this point it really hasn’t cost the town or taxpayers anything for the revitalization of Bulgarmarsh Park, so that’s part of the reason why we did that. We appreciate the Town Council members for approving this for the final piece of the puzzle.”

Several years ago the state Department of Environmental Management awarded the town a matching grant of $80,000 for the revitalization of Bulgarmarsh Recreation Area, which at the time it called “the worst park in the state,” according to Rose. 

Since, those monies have helped pay for , basketball courts, and most recently, a .

Although the Recreation Commission has another $10,000 to raise, Rose said the group is no stranger to fundraising and that much of the work already done, happened because of the generosity of Tiverton’s business community.

“It’s like night and day,” said Martin, who Rose said has been instrumental in orchestrating most of the improvements at Bulgarmarsh. “It was like a disaster area before, and as you can see, it is a pretty nice area now and very, very heavily used.”