Hampton Bays to Celebrate Good Ground Park Opening
Southampton Town will celebrate the grand opening of a major expansion to Good Ground Park in Hampton Bays on Saturday, Oct. 15 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The new entrance of the park is on the west side of Squiretown Road, just south of Main Street, though the park can still be accessed through Main Street as well.
There will be no parking at the park on Oct. 15, but parking and shuttle service will be available from the Hampton Bays elementary and middle schools on Ponquogue Avenue.
The day will be filled with events for families, including music and dance performances, street performers, pumpkin and face-painting, a petting zoo, local food truck vendors and a chance to see the new amphitheater and grounds.
Southampton Town purchased the 36-acre property just north of Montauk Highway in 2001 for $3.8 million through the Community Preservation Fund, but initial efforts to complete the park stalled due to both a lack of consensus over the design of the park and the economic recession that began in 2008.
In 2014, Southampton hired architects MKW+Associates, who have designed major parks in the New York Metro area, to design the park with community input, and has allocated $1.9 million in capital project funding for the project.
The town has received several grants for the project from New York State, including one for $1 million from the state Municipal Facilities Program, one for $500,000 through the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and one for $440,000 through the state Office of Economic Development.
