Stratford, CT has many sister cities around the world! This friendship garden is dedicated to the following cities:
Stratford-Upon-Avon, England
Stratford, Ontario
Stratford, Prince Edward Island
Stratford, New Zealand
Stratford, Australia
This garden is located in Boothe Memorial Park near the rose garden. Boothe Memorial Park is on land donated by the Boothe family and has a collection of buildings including a house, two old churches, a rose garden, a former trolley station, and more.
In 2003, a delegation from Stratford, PEI visited.
"To Dunstan and Heather MacDonald, however, it’s more like a major city with a rich history, when compared to the newly established Stratford where they live, in Prince Edward Island, Canada.
The couple is among a group of more than 40 residents from Canada visiting the town throughout the weekend as part of the Stratford Sister Cities program. The program includes six municipalities in the United States, Canada, England, New Zealand and Australia. Most of the visitors belong to the Sister Cities chorus.
The Stratford the MacDonalds are from, they said, is a semi-rural suburban town of 7,000 formed in 1995, combining five smaller municipalities.
In 1997, their town joined the nearly 20-year-old Stratford Sister Cities Program, and the following year formed a chorus after a visit from the Stratford, Conn. chorus.
Dunstan MacDonald, 71, founded the Prince Edward choir and is its president.
"This is a wonderful town with a lot of natural beauty and green spaces, and a rich history that we have fortunately had the opportunity to see quite extensively," said MacDonald, while on a tour Friday at the town’s historic Boothe Memorial Park.
MacDonald said while "everyone has been extremely hospitable and friendly," he had "probably never experienced temperatures this high (in the mid to high 90s). Where we live, it’s about 75 or 80 degrees this time of year," he said.
The group also got to view the colorful red, blue and green Sister Cities Garden. Each of the six Stratfords has an identical garden.
"It’s the one thing that makes it feel like home, it’s amazing how identical it is to ours," said Heather MacDonald, who is the choir’s librarian.
During their four-day visit, in which some members stayed with local families and others stayed at the Staybridge Suites, the group attended a buffet dinner at the Housatonic Boat Club, during which they were treated to rides along the Housatonic River by Councilman Richard Fredette, D-3, in his powerboat.
The Canadian town’s mayor, Michael Farmer, came along for his second trip to Stratford and said his town is quite a contrast to the one here that "has a long, fascinating history that goes back to Colonial times.
"But this is really about making new friends, renewing old friendships all over the world," said Farmer. "And when the choirs put on these performances it’s very difficult to tell which is the best one.""
Source: (
visit link)
New Haven Register
Sister City pays Stratford a visit
STRATFORD - With a population of nearly 50,000 people, this may be considered a moderate-sized New England town.
Richard Weizel
Aug. 23, 2003
Updated: July 29, 2017 12:10 p.m.