NEWPORT — Newport city officials gathered last week at the home of longtime Newport resident Polly Dagasse to accept a very unique donation, her retired golf cart.
Dagasse is an avid golfer who was looking to sell her golf cart earlier in the year.
“I finally decided to switch to a rental cart so I don’t have to worry about getting mine to and from the country club every spring and fall,” Dagasse said. “I had it for sale and got an offer, but it just didn’t feel right. I wanted to donate it to someone who could put it to good use.”
Dagasse has lived in Newport city for over 50 years and is active in her community with St. Mary’s Church and the Newport Country Club.
She had a role in preparing the city’s big 100th-year celebration with the Centennial Committee back in 2018, and so did her golf cart which was used by city staff and volunteers to organize the parade.
The Newport Parks & Recreation department says they are delighted to make the golf cart a permanent member of their working fleet.
With one 20 acre park at Gardner and another 35 acres at Prouty Beach, city staff has a lot of ground to cover when taking care of public facilities.
During the summer it’s not unusual to have a number of people working on different projects in separate areas of the parks.
“Golf carts are like a utility vehicle and save lots of time when doing rounds for maintenance or grabbing a tool from the other side of the park,” Jessica Booth, Director of Parks & Recreation, said.
Booth thanked Dagasse as she received the keys and said the cart will be kept busy at Prouty Beach alongside their 2006 Yamaha that was donated to the department about ten years ago.
