MILLINOCKET, Maine — Before she said anything else, Amy Collinsworth wanted to make one thing clear: The revitalization of Hillcrest Park has nothing to do with the proposed national park.
“This park is a residential commodity, and needed a tune-up, and therefore, I’m tuning it up. That’s all,” Collinsworth said of Hillcrest on Wednesday. “And the rec department and Town Council have shown immense support in more ways than one, than just approving the project.
“A lot of us are annoyed at people telling us or saying hurtful things about us when they don’t know the story,” she added.
The 25-year-old Collinsworth wasn’t looking to pick a fight. She and the other members of the OurKatahdin.com and Facebook-based There Ain’t No ‘Mill’ In Ocket volunteer groups have formed to unify the town with projects that everyone can support.
The Hillcrest effort has proven popular, Collinsworth said. About 25 people have donated time to the project since renovations began over the last month. Fifteen volunteers planted 17 large trees and about 20 shrubs and poured and contoured topsoil despite gloomy weather on Saturday.
The effort drew bipartisan support from town councilors Jimmy Busque, Michael Madore and Anita Mueller. Busque planted trees, and Madore donated tires that will be used as planters. John Raymond, a former councilor, photographed the effort, with contributions from Jandreau’s Greenhouse of Millinocket and Plants Unlimited of Rockport.
Our Katahdin, which advertises itself as an all-volunteer nonprofit organization working to promote community and economic development in the Katahdin region, catalogs and collects donations for many of the region’s volunteer efforts. As of Wednesday, it had funded nine projects by raising $21,750.
Collinsworth’s group, There Ain’t No ‘Mill’ In Ocket, listed 799 members as of Wednesday. It started with 55 subscribers in January. She named the group not as a rebuke to the town’s papermaking history but as a reminder to residents that with its paper mill gone, they need to revitalize their town.
“It was a marketing strategy that’s turned out very successful,” Collinsworth said. “I know what Millinocket means.”
Consisting of Katahdin region residents and natives who had moved away, the groups’ creations include a farmers market, a volunteer basketball tournament to fund regional high school sports programs, a community garden, a summer movie outdoor theater program and the Hillcrest effort.
Will Cassio, a 23-year-old who owns Lucky 13 Tattoo shop on Central Street, said he volunteered Saturday to help Collinsworth combat the area’s negativity.
“She had a really good goal, and her mindset on her design was really well thought out,” Cassio said. “It brings an insight to a dim area. If you have ‘before’ pictures, you see that [the park] was run down. And look at the community around it. Everybody’s depressed. She wants to change that. Let’s bring back the hope. Let’s get people motivated.”
Busque agreed that the park’s new design seemed enticing.
“Before there was not much there — nothing going on, no kids there, nobody using the park. Now it will look attractive,” Busque said. “They will just make it look inviting so people will use it again.”
The Hillcrest effort is unfinished. Members hope to seed the park, install mulch walking paths, paint the donated tires and convert them to planters and have the basketball court resurfaced, Collinsworth said. She encouraged people interested in volunteering or donating funds to subscribe to her Facebook page or to go to OurKatahdin.com and donate contributions to “Hillcrest Park.”
“When this park is done, it’s going to be more than just a landscaped area. It’s going to be a symbol of hard work, community, and not letting the ‘haters’ stand in your way,” she said.