Performing Arts Gazebo Finally Taking Shape

It went from being a band shell to a gazebo, from being completed before the start of summer, to being finished by mid-August. There have been changes for sure to the designs contained in the 2009 Sears Park Master Plan, but that's all in the past. What's in the future for East Hampton is the Governor William A. O'Neill Performing Arts Gazebo, the construction of which is well under way.

If you are traveling on North Main Street, it's hard to miss the equipment, piles of dirt and the new foundation that was just poured. Significant progress has been made in a short time, and perhaps within a month, work will be done.

Scope Construction Company of New Britain was contracted to build the gazebo. Scope’s bid, the lowest of four, came in at $162,500. The gazebo is being funded by a $200,000 Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP) grant.

“If we have money at the end left in the grant, we’ll utilize it before the contract is finished,” town facilities Manager Frank Grzyb said at an April town council meeting.

The park, donated to the town in 1910 by the Sears family, is East Hampton's only municipal park.

The town has said it wants to establish some guidelines that will allow it to maintain a measure of control over events at the gazebo, but as of yet no guidelines have been presented to the town council for approval.

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