Telling ‘the story of Joe’ on the Connecticut River
Marfuggi Riverwalk project to improve trail from Hartford to Windsor
Riverfront Recapture is embarking on a $3.5 million project to improve a 2.5-mile trail between Hartford and Windsor, a route now named for the late Joe Marfuggi, who drove the creation of the regional park system along the Connecticut River.
Construction will begin in the spring to pave a 12-foot wide, accessible trail through the woods from Hartford’s Riverside Park Boathouse to Windsor Meadows, expanding access along the way to the waterfront. The project will be completed by the end of 2022, officials said Monday during a small celebration of the organization’s 40-year history and its former president and CEO, Marfuggi, who died in 2018.
“We’re going make it an experience and at the same time tell the story of Joe, who did so much for this area,” said Mike Zaleski, Marfuggi’s successor as president and CEO of Riverfront Recapture.
The project is being funded by the state, Capital Region Development Authority and the city of Hartford, which contributed $750,000. Friends and colleagues of Marfuggi are also raising $750,000 in private donations to outfit the cycling, walking and running trail with benches, overlooks and art installations in honor of the former president and CEO of Riverfront Recapture, who led the nonprofit organization for 29 years until his retirement in 2015.
Hartford City Councilwoman Marilyn Rossetti, who sponsored the body’s resolution to name the trail for Marfuggi, recalled how her friend and neighbor shied away from recognition for his many accomplishments as he worked for decades to revitalize the riverfront into a centerpiece of the Hartford region.
“He was just someone who quietly toiled and made sure he had his eye on the prize,” Rossetti said.
Sherry Brown, Marfuggi’s wife, echoed that, saying he “never would take praise, he would fight it like a tiger all the time,” and would have refused to have his name on a trail if he were still alive.
“He wanted and believed that thousands of people helped put this together,” Brown said. “So a committee of family and friends was formed to figure out a way or two to make this riverfront river
walk about you, the community, and about all the people who helped.”
Riverfront Recapture — which manages four public parks along the Connecticut River and the trails that connect them — will be requesting proposals from artists starting Aug. 18 for installations to enhance the trail. The organization has already started collecting stories and memories of Marfuggi to inspire or incorporate in art works or tributes.
Brown, chair of the Joe Marfuggi Riverwalk Committee, said she hopes to see pieces that are interactive and fun, particularly for kids.
She recalled that when her husband died, one tribute only credited Marfuggi with bringing the community to the river, but also said “it would be a little sadder and a little colder place” without him.
“I’ll add, ‘But we are now in the business of making it a happy place,’ ” Brown said.
The new trail will also cross through a park that Riverfront Recapture is building on a 60-acre property on the Hartford-windsor line, which it purchased for the expansion in 2019. That park, to be known as Riverfront North, will include a new, 9-acre cove for paddle sports, a 10-acre commercial development site, fishing piers and an amphitheater.
That project represents a massive expansion of the organization’s decadeslong mission to make the most of a riverfront that was once hidden from Hartford by flood dikes, I-91 and a landfill.
Rep. John Larson, who helped secure federal funding for the park system, said Marfuggi always saw the potential of the flood-prone waterfront, even when it was merely an overgrown dividing line between the west and east sides of the Hartford region.
“Joe Marfuggi had vision when the rest of the world was wearing bifocals, and he came through time and time again: his vision, his dedication, his hard work,” Larson said.
Because of that, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said it was fitting to give Marfuggi’s name to “something that is yet to be.”
“It really is an honor for all of us to be here to celebrate the work that Joe did, but to celebrate the continuing work that honors Joe with every step forward that is taken,” Bronin said.
Another, separate project is in its infancy to expand the Connecticut River parks system to the south.
Riverfront Recapture is planning to conduct a feasibility study on the potential of connecting Charter Oak Landing in Hartford to Cove Park on the Hartford-wethersfield line. The study would identify the best route for a trail and estimate how much it would cost to build.