OGUNQUIT, Maine — Joan Griswold, the chair of the town’s Marginal Way Committee , recently described the fundraising efforts of the Marginal Way Preservation Fund as “stupendous.”
How stupendous?
Well, during a garden party fundraiser on Saturday, Aug. 10, members of the nonprofit organization presented the town with a check for $500,000 to go toward the costly efforts to repair the storm-ravaged Marginal Way .
Select Board Vice Chair Carole Aaron represented the town by accepting the check at the garden party, according to Allison Ramsey, the executive director of the Preservation Fund. Separate from the town and its Marginal Way Committee, the organization is a nonprofit dedicated to caring for the beautiful, historic path along Ogunquit’s coastline.
Aaron thanked the Preservation Fund on behalf of her Select Board colleagues and Town Manager Matthew Buttrick.
Charlie Hindmarsh, the vice chair of the Preservation Fund’s board of directors, hosted the garden party at his home.
On Tuesday, Hindmarsh said he hopes the donation can help Marginal Way remain what it has been since the town received the property as a gift 99 years ago.
“It’s a place enjoyed by so many,” he said.
Griswold expressed gratitude for the big contribution and praised the nonprofit organization’s prowess.
“They’ve had a stupendous fundraising effort,” Griswold said. “It’s been very successful.”
Ramsey said she and the Preservation Fund’s board members were “truly humbled and grateful” by all of the contributions that members of the community have made to their fundraising efforts.
“It is because of the dedication of our supporters that the path will continue to be enjoyed for many years to come,” Ramsey said.
The garden party itself raised $150,000 for the repair efforts, according to Ramsey. Ramsey said the proceeds from the event are supporting the organization’s Storm Damage Repair Appeal .
Of those funds, the Forbes Family Foundation, Joe and GG Forbes, Karen and Tim Darling, and Matt and Amy Forbes, donated $50,000.
"The Marginal Way is the ‘gateway’ to Ogunquit,” Amy Forbes, the owner of Perkins Cove Candy Shop, said. “The mission of the entire town should be stability, access and safety of it.”
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According to Town Manager Matthew Buttrick, the cost to fully repair Marginal Way is estimated by engineers to be around $3 million. The repairs would address not just damages from the two powerful storms that slammed the Maine coast back in January but also those of other weather events dating as far back as 2018.
In June, voters approved $1 million in bonding to go toward that $3 million price tag.
Those storms in January, which occurred within days of each other, took a significant toll on Marginal Way, eroding bits of pavement, scattering rocks of all sizes, and causing other damages.
The storms drenched the region with heavy rain and pounded shores with powerful high tides that scattered rocks and debris inland and dragged whole dunes and parts of seawalls out to sea.
After the annual town meeting in June, Buttrick said the approved bonding and the Preservation Fund’s contributions are making it possible for the repair projects to begin.
“We are able to begin them this fall with a two-year timeline to complete them all,” he said.
Without the Preservation Fund’s efforts, the bulk of the $3 million for the projects would have been put on the shoulders of taxpayers, Buttrick added.
At points throughout the path, the repairs will include replacing eroded areas, repaving stretches of the 5-foot-wide path, using gravel to fill washout spots, fixing railings and concrete steps, restoring bench platforms, reconstructing walls, stabilizing the edge of Winterberry Meadow, and more.
The work will be phased to minimize impacts on the summer season, when tourists and residents alike visit Marginal Way, as well as downtown shops and local beaches, Buttrick said.
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The story behind Ogunquit's Marginal Way
The walkway has a rich history . According to the Preservation Fund’s website, a conservationist and former state legislator named Josiah Chase Jr. donated the mile-long coastal parcel to the town of Ogunquit in 1925. The paved path begins in a corner of Oarweed Cove and wends through bayberry, honeysuckle, and “bittersweet, gnarled shrubs of fragrant pink and white sea roses.”
According to the organization, the path is called Marginal Way because of the pattern in which it was developed along the edge of local cliffs. Next year, the community will celebrate the path’s 100th anniversary.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: 'Gateway to Ogunquit': Marginal Way gets $500K boost to restore iconic path
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