Attention Camden Voters: We can reclaim the Tannery property for Park/Open space.  Article 3 on the ballot is a non-binding vote — there is no design plan or budget line to be approved. But there is an opportunity to envision. An opportunity to speak up and be heard.

If you’re paying attention, you will see that the kids have already decided. Look at the young kids on bicycles and skateboards. And the adults have already decided. Families, visitors, and neighborhood people are using the space. Folks walking their dogs, neighbors meeting one another, a local cycling group using it as their take-off spot.

Or better yet, go there on your own and just look at the river. Then, turn around and see Mt. Battie standing behind a stately row of oaks. If you do, you’re likely to recognize that this town-owned property’s greatest value is that of an open, public space.

Checking Park/Open space on the ballot does not preclude bringing in a small business that compliments the property. It is not an all or nothing verdict. But — very importantly — it will tell the Select Board that the people of Camden have vision. A resounding YES vote for Park/Open Space will be difficult to ignore as the town moves forward. Remembering Mary Louise Curtis Bok who saw in 1931 that the amphitheater should be preserved, we voters can see now that this property in another historic part of town — the Millville neighborhood — should be preserved. Not, of course, on the scale or design of the amphitheater, in fact likely the opposite, a simple green space, preserved for public use. But all of that can be mulled over and decided at a later date.

“All I could see from where I stood, was a river winding through the wood; I turned and looked the other way and saw a mountain, here to stay.” Borrowing and twisting a bit the words of Edna St. Vincent Millay (a Millville girl, by the way), I urge you to go to the Riverwalk and stand and look.

Camden can reclaim the old Tannery property. Vote for Park/Open space and tell the Select Board you’d like to add a jewel to this Maine coastal town.

Melissa Marchetti lives in Camden