For the past year, or so, I've been semi-officially on the Huntington Beautification Committee. However, I've been on the committee in absentia - I never made it to any of the meetings, I had no real input in the plans, and I had no idea what they were really doing. That changed, at least in a small way, last month when I attended my first meeting held in a cool little building nestled in Ritter Park.
During the meeting not much planning or real focus was attained. However, I did hear about an opportunity where my family and I could get involved in the beautifation on a scale that we can fit into our generally hectic schedule; the welcome sign on Route 60 heading in to town needed a caretaker. I spoke to Lisa about the idea after the meeting and she was as interested in doing it as I was so I emailed the committee and let them know we would take care of the sign and the flowerbox beneath it.
Basically, taking care of the sign means three things:
- Mow the grass around it if it needs it.
- Pick up Litter around it
- Tend the flower box
So far I haven't had to mow, I think that maybe the highway department or someone else has done it. I'm not sure who but I don't mind their help at all. Litter isn't too bad, the sign is near a pretty busy and fast section of the route so the only litter that collects there is the kind that blows in with the wind (and doesn't blow back out). The flower box, on the other hand, was looking pretty shabby.
Yesterday I swung by and removed the weeds but left the purple flowers that had managed to survive since last year. I also went downtown and picked up some flowers that are provided by the city for this box; two flats of vinca's - purple and pink. Today, Lisa and I went down during an extended lunch and planted the vincas and, if I do say so myself, I think it looks pretty good.
We still have to pick up some sweet potato vines and plant them but, I think, this is basically how the box will look. I'm pretty happy with it so far. Lisa was also thinking of adding some tall decorative grass near the ends. Plus, we both think it will be cool to decorate it for the different major holiday's. We'll see how that all plays out.
For now, I'm putting the photos of the sign and the surrounding area in an online album that you can view here.