Music in the clearing

Pastor plans outdoor performance space in friend's memory
By Lauren Mears, GDT Correspondent

ESSEX - Now that the 50- to 60-foot pine trees are cleared from land behind Emmanuel Community Church, Pastor Jim Lafontaine is ready to move forward with plans for an outdoor performance space in memory of a friend who shared his vision.

"I want to make it usable for music and other community events," Lafontaine said. "I started to hold a type of open-house, open-mic event the last Saturday of each month, but I wanted the area to be larger and more usable."

Lafontaine was working as a drug counselor when he began thinking about the possibilities of such a space.

"After people go through such an ordeal of quitting a substance, it's hard to find things to do and places to go and meet people," Lafontaine said. "I wanted to create a place for people to come together, have some fun and listen to some good music."

The vision was shared by Joel Chase, a friend of Lafontaine and member of his church, who died in May 2006, in his early 40s.

"He was going to clear the area out himself, but he died unexpectedly of heart failure," Lafontaine said. "His mother told me that with his last paycheck he bought some saws to do the work."

After Chase's death, the work was postponed, but the vision lived on and a donation from the Chase family helped move it forward.

Lafontaine hired Mayer Tree Service of Essex to clear the overgrown land. "Dan Mayer (the owner) gave us a big discount that helped a lot," he said.

Lafontaine also received some cleanup help from Chris Thibodeau of the Ipswich Family YMCA's Camp CIT and her counselors in training, who made the work their summer community service project.

"I felt it would be an interesting project and a neat idea," Thibodeau said. "It is really something that will help the community and bring people together."

Lafontaine's ultimate dream is an amphitheater in the clearing behind the church, but will start more modestly, possibly with a gazebo, picnic tables and a horseshoe pit.

"We are taking it slow, one piece at a time and different people in the church are helping in different ways,"

Lafontaine said. "Being in recovery myself, I'm excited to offer a place for clean, sober events, getting together and really providing a good atmosphere for people in recovery."

Lafontaine will name the outdoor performance space for Chase.

"I want it to be a memorial to him because he was so excited about it," he said.