(April 21, 2016) Preeminent, perennial volunteer Mike Wiley was the first person to arrive in Stephen Decatur Park Saturday morning at about 8:15 a.m. He came, armed with work gloves and gardening tools, a clipboard, and a box of yellow rubber bracelets, which read, “I have Berlin pride.”
Mayor Gee Williams arrived next, followed by dozens of volunteers eager to get to work on a temperate, sunny morning, during the town’s annual Berlin Clean-Up Day.
By 8:30 a.m., parks commission member Patricia Dufendach had arrived as well, pulling a wagon full of utensils behind her. She would largely direct the traffic of workers in the park that day.
“Today, the Berlin community came together to get rid of winter’s ills and bring spring along,” Dufendach said. “It was a lot of weeding. We’ve taken some time to put some gardens in, which, of course, takes weeding. And it was a lot of trimming, pulling out of noxious chickweed and dandelions.”
Decatur Park, on Tripoli Street, is home to the most-trafficked playground in Berlin.
“Generally, it was a lot of getting together and cleaning up,” Dufendach said. “If you’re going to walk around the pathways [in the park] you’ll notice a difference. You’ll also notice a lot of love and care has gone into it. I kind of think of Clean-Up Day as a love letter from the people of Berlin to the parks.”
Other helpers showed up at Berlin Falls, along with members of the public works staff, to help invigorate two long-neglected flowerbeds outside of the main building on Old Ocean City Boulevard.
That included cleaning and weeding the beds, planting dozens of flowers, and topping the areas off with mulch.
“We took a very small step towards beautifying the front of Berlin Falls park, and we’re looking forward to opening the park up for passive use at the end of the spring,” Town Administrator Laura Allen said. “I think people will be excited to see what it looks like.”
At William Henry Park on Flower Street, volunteers and town staff installed four new park benches, added several new plants, mulched areas around the playground and picked up trash.
Most of the day’s work was finished by noon, when people from all three parks gathered at Henry for a free lunch – hotdogs, hamburgers, chips and lemonade – cooked by members of SonRise Church.
“I think its great to see people from the community come out to help beautify the town,” Allen said. “It makes me feel appreciative that I live in such a nice place, where people are really willing to pitch in and help.”
Mayor Gee Williams arrived next, followed by dozens of volunteers eager to get to work on a temperate, sunny morning, during the town’s annual Berlin Clean-Up Day.
By 8:30 a.m., parks commission member Patricia Dufendach had arrived as well, pulling a wagon full of utensils behind her. She would largely direct the traffic of workers in the park that day.
“Today, the Berlin community came together to get rid of winter’s ills and bring spring along,” Dufendach said. “It was a lot of weeding. We’ve taken some time to put some gardens in, which, of course, takes weeding. And it was a lot of trimming, pulling out of noxious chickweed and dandelions.”
Decatur Park, on Tripoli Street, is home to the most-trafficked playground in Berlin.
“Generally, it was a lot of getting together and cleaning up,” Dufendach said. “If you’re going to walk around the pathways [in the park] you’ll notice a difference. You’ll also notice a lot of love and care has gone into it. I kind of think of Clean-Up Day as a love letter from the people of Berlin to the parks.”
Other helpers showed up at Berlin Falls, along with members of the public works staff, to help invigorate two long-neglected flowerbeds outside of the main building on Old Ocean City Boulevard.
That included cleaning and weeding the beds, planting dozens of flowers, and topping the areas off with mulch.
“We took a very small step towards beautifying the front of Berlin Falls park, and we’re looking forward to opening the park up for passive use at the end of the spring,” Town Administrator Laura Allen said. “I think people will be excited to see what it looks like.”
At William Henry Park on Flower Street, volunteers and town staff installed four new park benches, added several new plants, mulched areas around the playground and picked up trash.
Most of the day’s work was finished by noon, when people from all three parks gathered at Henry for a free lunch – hotdogs, hamburgers, chips and lemonade – cooked by members of SonRise Church.
“I think its great to see people from the community come out to help beautify the town,” Allen said. “It makes me feel appreciative that I live in such a nice place, where people are really willing to pitch in and help.”