Greven Field’s Green Monster strikes out Damage pushes Cavendish board to vote to remove wall

By Lorien Strange
©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Last Monday night’s Cavendish Select Board meeting was short and a little bittersweet, with the board voting to remove Greven Field’s Green Monster, a baseball left-field wall affectionately modeled and named after the one at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.

Flooding in the summer of 2023 put an end to games at Greven Field, with debris, damage and the field’s history of flooding making it unplayable.

Since then, the Planning Commission has been discussing the game plan for the field’s future, including what to do with the Green Monster.

The wall is missing a panel and starting to decay, said Town Manager Richard Chambers. And with the scoreboard now useless, the Planning Commission eventually decided it would be best to take the wall down.

In his motion to remove the Green Monster, Select Board member David Norton said that the town would leave it until spring to let people take mementos from it. The Select Board did not set a date for the wall’s removal.

In his Manager’s Report, Chambers encouraged those interested in giving input into the future of Greven Field to attend the Planning Commission’s regular meetings, at 6:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month at the Town Office, 37 High St.

Celebrating nation’s 250th anniversary 

While other towns may be planning “big budget” events to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding on July 4, 2026, Chambers said he’d like to keep Cavendish’s festivities, if there are any, “quaint and small-town.”

Margo Caulfield from the Cavendish Historical Society was in the audience to discuss some of her organization’s ideas for the celebration.

For one, she said that this summer’s farmer’s market on the Fourth of July brought a great turnout and had a “small-town Americana” feel with live music. Merging the two events again next year could add to the festivities.

She added that it might be nice to have a small parade, some historical games, a town-wide barbecue, and a history tour of Revolutionary War-era Cavendish. The historical society is “happy to work with the town however the Select Board wants to do it.”

Select Board member Mike Ripley wondered if Greven Field would be ready to host some of the celebrations.

Chambers and Caulfield noted that there’s been significant clean-up of the field recently thanks to students at Cavendish Town Elementary School and the Black River Action Team, but the field is still more weeds and gravel than grass.

BRAT’s Kelly Stettner, who was attending via Zoom, pitched a slightly unusual solution to the field’s maintenance— goats.

Goats, she explained, are an herbicide-free way to mow down knotweed, poison ivy, mullein, bittersweet and other weeds. And, unlike other livestock might, they wouldn’t contribute to riverbank erosion. They would likely come through several times a year, followed by hand management for what the goats can’t do, such as removing rocks.

Stettner is waiting to hear back from Slippery Slope Goats, based in Landgrove, about ballpark figures for the timing and costs to manage Greven Field.

Regardless, everyone agreed that it’s too early to say if the field really could be ready for activities by the fourth of July. If managed with goats, “it may not be the most pristine area,” Caulfield said, but she hinted that someone local with equipment might be willing to help make it “very presentable.”

Policy changes for FEMA funding; winter parking

The Select Board also approved changes to its Purchasing Policy and Conflict of Interest policy to bring them into federal compliance to receive FEMA funding. The changes only apply to when the town is handling money from the federal government.

Chambers also reminded everyone that the winter section of the town Parking Ordinance, which bans overnight parking on town streets from midnight to 6 a.m., is now in effect until April 1. Several vehicles have already been marked for towing.

Select Board member Sandra Russo asked if the Winter Parking Ordinance also applies to

Route 131, as it specifically mentions that it’s forbidden to park along town highways. A VTrans representative, in an email shared with The Telegraph, later told Chambers that the town cannot enforce a parking ban along state-managed roads like Route 131. The representative also noted that the state cannot guarantee access to vehicles parked along state roads. Anyone cleaning snow and ice off of vehicles should also know that it is illegal to put snow on the highway.

Just prior to the Cavendish Select Board’s next regular meeting, the town will be holding the second public hearing for the Proposed Draft Subdivision Regulations at 6 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 8. Both meetings will be held at the Town Office, 37 High St.