Mixville Park's New Water Crossing

It took nearly 300 hours for David Gomes and his friends to build and install the new water crossing at Mixville Park. The large concrete slabs serve as stepping stones for visitors to walk across the stream that separates the uppper and lower ponds.

"Ive had the idea since I was a kid," said David Gomes, 17, who installed the crossing as his Eagle Scout project. 

"Mixville has been a big part of my life," Gomes said. He grew up about a half-mile away from the park.  "I fished down there and wanted to cross it, but I always fell. I wanted a bridge," he said.

The idea for project took shape in March, Gomes said, and was installed this fall over three weekends. His father Frank Gomes, chronicled the work and posted more than 300 photos on his Picasa album.

"When you look from afar and see a person standing in the middle of the walkway, a person looks like he or she is standing on water. There is also sounds of eleven mini-waterfalls that lanscape the area. It was nice to see the smiles of the people in the community using the walkway," Frank Gomes wrote about the project.

David Gomes has been a member of Scout Troop 198 since he was in fifth grade. "Scouting is awesome. Every kid should do it. It's amazing to see how I've grown through scouting," he said. "It's why I'm so successful now," Gomes added. 

Not only is he an Eagle Scout candidate, but Gomes is also a pole vaulter and captain of Cheshire High School's indoor and outdoor track teams. 

"I honestly feel it's shaped my morals," and other life skills, Gomes said about scouting. "It's more than tying knots."

The Eagle Scout project was supported by donations of material and equipment from Extreme Maintenance LLC of Cheshire, F&F Concrete of Southington and Lowes Home Improvement.

"(It's) nice to have young people go out and help the community in any way that is positive. The personal growth to the youth is measurable," said Frank Gomes.