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After just around two months of planning and five days of work, a new timber frame pavilion is standing in Brewbaker Park for future use by the community.
“It feels satisfying at this point,” said Chad Coffey, director of the Rockbridge Area Recreation Organization (RARO), Tuesday morning. “It’s been a lot of hard work by a lot of people, a lot of hurdles to jump and hoops to jump through, but … it’s kind of amazing to watch [the project] come together so quickly.”
Part of the reason for the abbreviated time-frame of the project is that the pavilion was originally scheduled to be built next spring, but the timber framers’ project slated for this spring in another locality fell through earlier this year. On Feb. 2, the Lexington City Council unanimously endorsed a proposal by RARO to build the pavilion.
where Mullen and other original organizers are beginning to pass the torch.
“We are now pushing the management of all of this down to the next generation,” he said. “We’ve trained our own similar pavilions have been built for local schools and for Project Horizon, a local organization that provides services to battered women.
“All of our projects have come by word-of-mouth,” he said. “Word just sort of gets around and we work with local organizations to make it happen.”
The majority of the work on the frame took place on Mullen’s property in Rockbridge Baths. Friday and part of Saturday were spent reviewing the plans and marking and measuring the timber, and cutting began Saturday afternoon. The cutting concluded Sunday and portions of the frame were put together. All of the pieces were finished on Monday, with some being moved to Brewbaker Park that evening and the last of the timber being moved Tuesday morning. Tuesday was spent raising and putting the frame together on-site.
Over the course of the fiveday construction, an average of 115-120 volunteers worked on the project, either in creating and building the timber frame or by providing food for those doing so. Volunteers with the various RARO youth and adult programs have been helping with the meals for the workers.
“We have a community of timber framers who come to do the framing, but there’s also a community of various groups who come to feed us,” Mullen said. “The community is involved in more than just making sawdust. It’s wonderful.”
RARO applied for and received a $20,000 grant from the Community Health Foundation to cover the cost of the project. The timber was provided by Blue Ridge Lumber in Fishersville, and Lexington’s Department of Public Works laid the concrete slab that serves as the base of the pavilion and installed the electrical wiring and outlets.
