After years of planning and about a year of construction work, the town of Sandwich held a ceremonial opening of the rebuilt Sandwich Boardwalk Wednesday with Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll in attendance.
Residents and town officials gathered in the parking lot on Sandwich Road, with the iconic boardwalk and Mill Creek bridge as a backdrop.
Select Board member Patrick Ellis served as emcee.
“This is one of the places that you never forget, whether you grew up a few hundred yards from here like I did, or whether you visited here once in your life,” he said. “This is the type of a place that captures that spirit, and you feel it.”
The $3.2 million boardwalk was rebuilt following repeated storm damage. It opened to the public in time for Memorial Day weekend, but contractors continued working on the final details during the summer.
The town went through an intense debate over the design of the new boardwalk.
The finished product retains much of the look of the old one, but it has railings along its full length for safety, and is wider for accessibility and higher to adjust to sea level rise.
Flanked by town officials, Driscoll cut a wide blue ribbon to mark the occasion.
“It’s projects like this that just make your heart sing,” she said. “To have precious space that we can enjoy, that was threatened, that now will be preserved and appreciated — it’s truly a gift for the next generation.”
Sandwich Town Manager George “Bud” Dunham thanked everyone who participated in the planning and construction, including a long list of residents, town boards and employees, contractors, and the voting public. And he gave special recognition to Assistant Town Manager Heather Harper and Town Engineer Sam Jensen.
“If you added all of our time up together, multiplied by 10, it wouldn't equal what Sam did,” he said.
He said Harper did much of the organizing of the project and planned the opening ceremony.
“This is a loving and hopefully lasting monument that we've built to the town,” Dunham said. “And it's a monument to compromise and perseverance. And I think we need to remember that, and respect. So, collectively, we saved the Sandwich Boardwalk.”
