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07/29/2015 08:00 AMWhen the Town of Clinton celebrated its 350th anniversary, local historians Roy M. Dickinson and Wally and Denise Woods created a booklet detailing highlights of the history of the town. Now, the Clinton Placemakers are making that information even more accessible to residents and visitors.
Lise Gazzillo, a founding member of the Clinton Placemakers and a web designer, has been busy updating the website historytrail.clintonctedc.com.
“It’s a responsive Smartphone website that scales down nicely and is easy to navigate,” says Lise. “With the Placemakers, we’re trying to highlight the hidden assets of the town. Clinton has so many wonderful things.”
Lise noted the town’s marinas, kayaking areas, and history, such as the first Yale classes taught by Abraham Pierson, the Stanton House, and a mile-marker placed by Ben Franklin when he was the country’s postmaster. Many of the town’s historical highlights will be featured at the town’s first-ever fireworks display and celebration on Saturday, Aug. 22, when the Placemakers will distribute the 350th booklet.
“The Placemakers wanted to have something to share that day,” says Lise. “We’ll highlight the Waterside Lane history trail and people from KidsConnections will dress up and act out historical skits. We hope people will be milling about, using the booklet and website, and enjoying the festivities of the day.”
The Placemakers added a QR code to the 350 booklets that will take people right to the website when scanned on their Smartphone. The website features information from the 350 booklet, as well as supplemented information from the Placemakers’ own research. The goal is to add more to the website, including multimedia assets. The Placemakers hope to expand on the historic trails, as well, with a goal of adding an architectural tour of High Street.
“It’s been really cool to learn about the history of my own town,” says Lise. “The history is such a huge piece of our town that hasn’t been fully explored. We’re just brushing the dust off and reviving it.”
The Clinton Placemakers began about a year ago after Lise and several others saw a presentation by Kip Bergstrom of the state Commission on Culture and Tourism about the importance of ways to give your town a boost.
“Placemaking is a national trend and a group of us became very inspired by what he said, so we came together,” says Lise. “We held some informational forums and our goal is to be collaborative with different organizations working together to highlight the different hidden gems in our town.”
Lise moved to Clinton nine years ago and is enjoying raising her two sons in the town she now calls home.
“I’ve only lived her nine years, but I can pull up my sleeves, get involved, and do something for the town I live in,” she says. “It’s a great place to raise kids and a really family friendly community.”
She is not only excited about the development of the website, but the new developments coming to town as well, such as the new high school, the development of the old high school site, and the sports complex being developed on the Unilever property.
“There are so many up-and-coming things happening—2016 is going to be the year of Clinton,” says Lise. “We have such a unique situation with two new developers coming into town and we need to maximize that. Our goal is to add more economic development opportunities in town.”
Lise also incorporates her interests of kayaking, biking, and gardening into her work with the Bicycle and Pedestrians Advisory Committee (BPAC), which aims to connect Clinton to the Shoreline Greenway Trail.
All of Lise’s work, with both the Clinton Placemakers and BPAC, is about making Clinton an even bigger draw. She know that while both residents and visitors can enjoy the “town’s hidden historical gems,” it will also help the town grow.
“It all ties back to marketing the town and the Placemakers facilitating a collaborative effort to bring different organizations together to lead to more economic development.”