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| Beautification
Committee chair Beth Booker and future master gardener Lauren.
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Neighborhoods once had garden clubs (and some still do) where residents gathered to work on ways of beautifying the yards in their neighborhoods. But even in historic neighborhoods things adapt and evolve. Old North Knoxville's Beautification Committee does many things an "old fashioned" garden club does and much more. For example, ongoing projects include:
First Creek Greenway - At least twice a year the Beautification Committee works to clean trash from the creek bed and surrounding greenway. An article on our spring clean up is featured in this issue of Old North News. Working with the City of Knoxville and the Adopt-A-Stream project, ONK has adopted the section of First Creek from Broadway to Glenwood and is working to make this area more attractive to residents and visitors.
Spring Fling - In April the Beautification Committee sponsored a neighborhood-wide clean up. The City of Knoxville provided dumpsters for neighbors so that unwanted items could be hauled away beautifying not only the public areas of ONK, but many basements and attics as well. More opportunities to fling are planned for this summer and fall. Watch the newsletter for these dates.
Entryway Markers - Members of the committee have committed to maintaining colorful plantings at the neighborhood markers at Broadway & Central (in front of
AmSouth Bank) and on East Scott.
New projects the committee is working on include:
Heritage Bulb Sale - Later this summer the committee will be taking bulb orders for daffodils, narcissus, and other flowers that were popular with homeowners in the late 1800s to early 1900s. One of the goals of this sale is to encourage residents to buy and plant flowers that will help give ONK its own unique heritage look. More information on this sale in the next issue of the newsletter.
Small Urban Park - Another project the Beautification Committee will be working on is a small urban park for ONK. The park will be created in a joint venture with the City of Knoxville. The city will own the land, but lease it to ONK. ONK residents will then be responsible for developing and maintaining this urban green space
ONK resident Beth Booker is chairman of the Beautification Committee. Beth grew up in a household of gardeners (including an Illinois certified Master Gardener), but never participated in much of the activity until she was long out of the nest. In the early 90s Beth's gardening genes exploded and she attended the Tennessee Dept. of Agriculture's Master Gardening program and became a certified volunteer with their program. "Gardening is a process that's never completed," says Booker. "Plants, effort, and mother nature all have to work together, but when they do, the show is amazing."
Beautification, too, in ONK is never completed, and even if you don't have a green thumb, you can still help. Some aspects may not be as visually appealing as heritage flowers in bloom, but it would be a shame not to be able to see the flowers for the trash blocking your view.
If you are interested in joining with this group of volunteers, come to their next meeting, June 5th, 9 AM, at
the Time Warp Tea Room on North Central. If you'd like more information on the group, contact Beth at 524-8515 or by e-mail at
kalrecop@bellsouth.net.
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