To some, he was the man who braved the Connecticut River in a giant pumpkin in 2023. To others he was an award-winning snow and ice sculptor. But over weekend, it was clear: to hundreds, if not thousands, Dave Rothstein was a friend.
Remembered fondly by many, the late local artist and conversation advocate was the subject of a “Day of Dave” celebration Saturday, complete with an hours long remembrance at the Academy of Music.
At least 350 people crowded the venue to remember Rothstein, a former environmental lawyer who died suddenly at the age of 57 in November.
Throughout the day, a collage of his accomplishments came together, painting a picture of a man who had a prolific love for the arts, humor and the environment.
“Anyone who met him immediately felt connected to him because he drew you in and he was interested in you,” Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra told WAMC. “He was interested in the world - that's reflected in all of the different things that he did, right? He was an environmental lawyer, he was an artist, he was a farmer. He cared deeply about our wider world and also community and our world, locally.”
Park Hill Orchard co-owner Alane Hartley says the artist behind the “Beetle in a Haystack” installation and other ventures at the orchard seemed to have endless energy and a profound love for volunteering.
“So many people felt like Dave was their best friend, and it's really that he was just for people,” Hartley said. “You knew he supported you. He supported you as a human. He supported you for who you were…”
Rothstein’s hay-infused ’74 VW Super Beetle was just one of a menagerie of sculptures and pieces he helped assemble over the years – from a massive snow elephant carrying a city to intricate patterns shoveled onto his snow-covered driveway to comedic pieces like an image of John F. Kennedy standing by a Berliner-style donut – referencing JFK’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” line from a 1963 speech by the Berlin Wall.
These were just some of the works lining the walls of a special gallery just down the street from the Academy of Music. Overseeing it was one of Dave’s many friends, William Tuman.
“People talk about the kindness and the gentle spirit that Dave had, how he was a friend to everyone: everyone thought he was their best friend,” Tuman recounted.
“There's a lot of people like that and there's also a lot of people who are really talented, creative - just curious all the time, about everything they notice and make all kinds of cool connections that other people might not put together," he continued. "If you think about those two types of people – there are not a lot of people who are both. The Venn diagram is a little sliver of creative and gentle/nice/giving - he was one of those in that tiny little zone.”
Tuman said Rothstein’s talent spanned mediums and in numerous other ways over the years. It included picking up mint farming and excelling at it so quickly, a local ice creamery was soon using Rothstein’s harvest for a special spearmint flavor.
Enough was left over that at least 400 mint tea bags were assembled for “Day of Dave” by Rothstein’s colleagues at Mass Audubon, where he served as a land protection specialist after retiring from the U.S. Department of Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service.
It was also during that time Dave captured national attention when he took what he described as a half-ton pumpkin and made it river-worthy.
Traveling from Hatfield to Holyoke – a nearly-40 mile stretch – Rothstein paddled along the Deerfield and Connecticut Rivers, leading to spotlight on the waterway and a headline from his alma mater Northeastern University “Rothestein Throws Himself Into Gourds and Guinness” (he had also been gunning for a “longest journey by pumpkin boat (paddling)” record at the time).
It’s a time and spirit Mass Audubon’s Andrew Randazzo remembers well.
“Dave really could bring together his art with his passion for conservation - and he had this great way of grabbing attention,” Randazzo told “Dave did this pumpkin paddle to really elicit the importance of the Connecticut River Watershed and how important it is to protect it, and to get people's attention around that.”
Randazzo, as well as other former colleagues and family members gathered at a nearby Elks Lodge for another leg of the weekend celebration, complete with several hundred donuts from West Springfield’s Donut Dip, where Rothstein, a donut enthusiast, once volunteered.
As Pamela Rothstein told WAMC, her brother’s penchant for going all in was one of his many hallmarks. It was omnipresent: whether making donuts, giving sharp legal counsel on all things environmental or planning to help build an ice hotel in Sweden – a project he’d been hoping to take part in before his death.
His sister said the multi-venue “Day of Dave” event offered a special kind of closure for hundreds of people.
“This was an important piece … for everybody involved,” she explained. “[For the planners], it was part of their grief process, it was part of their giving back to him and celebrating him. Hopefully, for the community, it's a point on that road of remembrance, in embracing him so that his spirit lives on.”
Rothstein’s art can be found on daverothstein.com.
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This piece originally aired on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026.
Audio for this piece was provided/performed by the Fish and Wildlife Band.
Rothstein's rendition of "You are my Sunshine" with Tilly the Dog can be found here.
