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I remember losing my saddle shoe in the boat ride at White
City Amusement Park when I was five. And
when a fancy cinema replaced the Amusement Park just a few years later, my
parents let me go to a movie on a Saturday night for the very first time: the
film was My Fair Lady with Julie Andrews and my date was my big brother, Al.
Spag’s. Bowling. Shopping trips to Natick. My first job at The Red Barn, a massive music
and dance venue on Route 9 in Westboro. All
of these took me over Lake Quinsigamond and what is now the Kenneth F. Burns
Memorial Bridge.
Who knew what the future would hold?
On November 1, 2015, I stood in Regatta Park and listened to
speeches about the lake, the bridge, the man it was named after and the team
that had collaborated with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to
bring the new bridge to fruition. I had
the honor of being the lighting designer for the new structure, creator of the
lighting that resulted in cheers, hoots, boat whistles and my favorite line of
the night from the Lieutenant Governor, who proclaimed that the bridge had
“out-Zakimed the Zakim Bridge!”
It’s time to add another memory to the list: the night I was
able to give something in return. I can
only hope that the nighttime image of the Ken Burns Bridge will be as enduring
and memorable for the communities of Worcester and Shrewsbury as my memories of
that place and time.
