By Cindi Hamar
For The New Era
The Sweet Home Beautification Committee is seeking volunteers as the group prepares to spruce up the city for spring.
Currently, the group has approximately eight volunteers, but due to various reasons, the number of volunteers able to participate in the most recent work party had declined to four.
“ON May 13 the volunteers will be planting the new flowers in the median t
Candy Snyder, Chairperson states, “May 13th the volunteers will be planting the new flowers in the median that enhance the beauty of Sweet Home for citizens and tourists,” said Chairperson Candy Snyder. “We really need help.”
“We were so short-handed at the last work party that being 86, my back hurt all week,” said Phyllis Osborn Smith, one of the group’s co-founders.
Beautification Committee volunteers work on the median flower beds on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, beginning this year on May 13 and ending the second week of October.
Volunteers meet at 8:30 a.m. on the corner of 10th and Main Street. The work party lasts 1½ to 2½ hours, depending on how many people are able to participate on any given day. The more volunteers, the shorter the time to work can be. Volunteers bring their own trowels, clippers and smaller weed buckets.
They will be planting petunias weeding as necessary in the downtown median raised beds and the three entrances to Sweet Home, at Hwy. 228 and Fern Ridge Road, at Shea Point on Hwy. 20, and at Clover Park at the intersection of Main and 1st Avenue.
The Beautification Committee began in 2000, through the efforts of two women, the late Alice Grovom and Osborn Smith, who were joined by Joyce Gile and Vivian Chelsted.
“It is a subcommittee of the Sweet Home Park and Tree Committee,” explained Patty Holk,who has volunteered with the group for over 18 years. She said her reason for starting the committee was to make the Sweet Home downtown area beautiful for all and she joined because she loves gardening and takes pride in making the town beautiful.
Snyder said she volunteered because “my father was Earl McFarlan, who was an attorney in Sweet Home. He always felt it was a mistake to put the median in, he said it would not look good and was concerned with upkeep being done.
“ I decided then that when I retired I would volunteer to help.”
Osborn Smith explained how she got involved: “Years ago my parents owned one of the big houses across the street from Safeway and someone solicited $5 to go for plants to put in the median.
“I said I would do that and I wrote on the form that I would gladly help in any way. I had just retired. I was contacted right away and have been involved ever since. We live in such a beautiful area and the city needs to look just as good.”
She laughed as she recounted how her husband always tells people his wife is “working on the streets again.”
Members hold a monthly meeting on a Thursday, which includes Sweet Home Public Works personnel, who provide protection cones for safety during work days, along with bright yellow vests and a large container to dump weeds into.
Committee members have high praise for the support from Public Works.
In celebration of Arbor Day at Sankey Park on Saturday, April 26, Beautification Committee will staff a booth handing out brochures and taking sign-ups for volunteering. The free Arbor Day celebration will last from 2 to 4 p.m. and will include games, food and information.
Anyone interested is encouraged to contact Candy Snyder at (541) 971-1092.