SOUTH PORTLAND – A driver at the intersection of Ocean Street and Broadway hollered to the work crew as the stoplight turned green. “I love your boats!” the man told Ronald Bourassa before driving away.

Bourassa is a stonemason who’s working on improvement projects in Mill Creek Park. His hand-carved granite Friendship sloops – depicting the workingman’s boat that was developed around that town on Muscongus Bay – now grace the pillars that are part of a new formal entrance to the city park.

Additional Photos

Ronald Bourassa, a stonemason from Buxton with ties to South Portland, works on a pillar that holds one of a pair of granite Friendship sloops he carved himself and added to the stonework being done at Mill Creek Park. John Patriquin / Staff Photographer

Employees from Saco-based Maineway Landscaping & Excavating construct a new entrance at Mill Creek Park in South Portland on Wednesday. John Patriquin / Staff Photographer

Stonemason Ronald Bourassa has a granddaughter who lives near Mill Creek Park, and he likes the idea that she’ll be able to enjoy his work so easily. “It’s a real treat for me,” he said. John Patriquin / Staff Photographer

Bourassa worked for Maineway Landscaping & Excavating before going into semi-retirement. He stopped by to say hello to the crew in the park one day and ended up getting hired for the project.

Lately, Bourassa has been interested in Friendship sloops. He asked his boss, Tony Aceto, if he could mount his carvings into the pillars, and got the OK.

Bourassa lives in Buxton, but has ties to South Portland. The man who hollered at the stoplight – Louis Koukas – is the brother-in-law of Bourassa’s son.

Bourassa has a granddaughter who lives near the park, and he likes the idea that she’ll be able to enjoy his work so easily. “It’s a real treat for me,” he said.

Aceto and his crew have been working at the park for 12 weeks. He expects their work will be done this week or next. They’re now working on the formal public garden entrance area in the southwest corner of the park. The pillars with Bourassa’s sloops will be topped with an arched wrought-iron sign.

The work also includes a plaza on the west end of the park’s pond, a stone wall across the water in the gazebo area and other stone accents.

“It’s fun to see it all go up. It’ll be here forever,” said Christian Gregor, a member of Aceto’s crew.

It’s all part of a $321,000 project to improve the 10-acre park. Most of the money came from Community Development Block Grants.

City Manager James Gailey said the park has gone through a number of changes over the past 30 to 40 years, some of which weren’t so well-planned.

The previous rose garden, for example, was placed awkwardly and some of the trees and other plantings were put in without a clear plan, he said.

The result was that some parts of the park weren’t used, while the pond got most of the traffic — and wear and tear. “It was getting a little tired-looking,” Gailey said.

This phase of the improvements — the first of three in the 2010 Mill Creek Master Plan — includes a network of crushed-stone paths to connect parts of the park, the gazebo area and the section near the veterans memorial.

The Service Monument Committee is still raising money for two of the four granite benches for the area. The city is accepting donations on behalf of the committee.

Maria Faizi, a nursing assistant who lives in Portland, pops over to the park to read or just relax when she’s in the Mill Creek area for errands.

She thinks the changes have made the park a nicer spot.

Staff Writer Ann S. Kim can be contacted at 791-6383 or at:

akim@pressherald.com

Twitter: AnnKimPPH

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