Wendy Follansby and Betty Smith, both Penacook residents, went to Riverfront Park with raincoats and umbrellas just to be safe.
They were there to celebrate the opening of Concord’s first new park in Concord since 1988.
Just as it started to rain, the group congregated under a sturdy pavilion, which is one of the many amenities at the Canal Street park, along with accessible pathways, parking, benches and an amphitheater.
“I just live a couple blocks away, so I’m looking forward to coming to the park and walking in it, having it be part of my routine,” said Follansby.
A concert scheduled for after the ceremony was cancelled due to inclement weather, but Follansby and Smith said they will make sure to be at the rescheduled event.
“We came to one concert already and I was really looking forward to having another one tonight. I just think it’s lovely, the idea of having a concert in the park,” Smith said.
The park has been 30 years in the making, according to Mike Wimsatt, of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. It is part of a project to revitalize the area previously home to the Allied Leather Tannery Complex, an effort that eventually fell to the city of Concord.
“This is a great culmination of so much work and so many people,” Wimsatt said.
Brent Todd, who represents Penacook on the Concord City Council, expressed his excitement for the new park and the village’s revitalization.
“Overall, this community, this village, Penacook, I think has come a long way in recent years and I think this is one of the crown jewels that we can really look to in terms of the city of Concord’s efforts and the efforts of so many others,” Todd said.