FARMINGTON – A student-construction crew installed new white steel posts Thursday along Main Street for a new fence at Hippach Field.

Instructor Mike Fogg guided the students as they dug deeper holes and leveled off the square posts before backfilling dirt into them.

Fogg’s students and those in the welding class have been busy making cedar fence sections and steel posts back at Foster Regional Applied Technology Center.

It’s a collaborative effort between the town and the school to put up a new fence at the historic field to look similar to the old one.

Farmington Public Works crew members dug holes for the fence.

The new fence will have a steel top rail to make it a continuing piece to resist warping and rotting, Fogg said.

Students made 800 square pickets out of cedar wood and prebuilt the sections and whatever else could be done prior to installation at the school’ shop.

On Thursday, students used tape measures, string lines and a post level to make sure posts were installed where they were supposed to go.

Fogg was overseeing the workmanship.

“Working off a string and keeping everything plumb,” he said, “you have to be fussy.”

That’s the challenge of this job, Fogg added, noting that people will see the kids working and will be checking their progress.

Fogg said he told them they’ll probably be a 1,000 sidewalk superintendents making sure everything is in formation.

“We’re going to be scrutinized pretty hard,” he said.

The posts are 11 feet tall. Students were setting them in the ground 4 feet, 6 inches.

Dustin Duchesne, 18, of Rangeley was working alone as he set a post in the ground.

He works for a landscape company during the summer and has done a couple fences but nothing this size, he said.

Making the fence sections was monotonous, Duchesne said.

“There’s just so much fence here that you paint, paint, paint…” he said.

Duchesne put the post level on and it was level.

“It’s a lot of guess and check and a little bit of luck,” he said, as he started to back fill the hole.

Chris Embleton, 19, of Farmington used a post hole digger to remove some more dirt out of a hole so the post would be straighter and more level.

Each post has to be 8-foot on center, Josh Blodgett, 16, of Wilton said.

They used a spreader to keep the posts the right distance apart.

“It makes it easy,” Blodgett said.

Fogg said he’s hoping to get the fence done by the end of May.

Besides the new fence at the field, the grass on the sidewalk has been removed and the sidewalk will be paved.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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