Alex Paul
Completion of the median strip improvement project in downtown Sweet Home is expected within 30 days, members of the community’s beautification committee told The New Era last week.
Much of the first phase of the project was donated by local contractor Don Darwood and was greatly appreciated by the committee, said representative Alice Grovom.
The second phase will utilize the contracted services of Josh Darwood Construction to complete concrete work.
Once the concrete work is done, volunteers will be able to move onto planting trees and landscaping the median to match those areas already completed.
Cost of the second phase of the project is estimated at $13,000, Grovom said. That money came from fund raising by the Beautification Committee, donations and a grant from the Sweet Home Economic Development Group, Inc.
“The committee wishes to thank all of you who have stopped to talk with us and given us encouragement by your remarks,” Grovom said. “We also wish to thank Roth’s Nursery in Lebanon for the beautiful pots they made for us this year.”
Committee member Phyllis Osborn said the committee was also grateful for a greenhouse, built at cost by the construction technology class at Sweet Home High School.
“It’s full and it looks so good,” Osborn said.
More than 2,000 volunteer hours were logged this year in keeping up the median and other beautification projects, said City Manager Craig Fentiman.
Those who have volunteered include: Carla Claasen, Vivian Chelstead, Geraldine Gardner, Alice Gallogly, Joyce Geil, Alice Grovom, Patricia Heier, Karla Loree, Corky Lowen, Bill Marshall, Craig Martin, Betty McCollum, Bob McIntire, Phyllis Osborn, Alice Smith, Richard and Nedra Tabor, Bill and Carol Summers, Barbara Taylor, Juan and Donna Ulep, Billie Weber, Pat Wood, Mike Adams, Robert Belknap, Ralph Groat, Hank and Carol Honeywell, Jan Jones, John Kuhns, Ival McCollum, Wayne Somes, Bob Waibel, SHHS students and teachers…plus much support from city staff members.
Tidbits…
— Come spring Sweet Home should have a yellow daffodil path through town due to the donation of some 2,400 large daffodil bulbs by Green Gables farms located in Philomath. The Oregon Daffodil Society also donated some 600 bulbs.
— Babe Mueller of Albany, but who grew up in Sweet Home, donated some beautiful Bearded Iris plants to the effort and then introduced the Beautification Committee to her employer, Snow Peak Iris Nursery of Lebanon. To date, Iris plants have been planted at the city library, city parking lot, along the Thriftway store’s retaining wall and other places along Hwy. 20.
— Committee workers have cleaned out the median strip beds for the winter and pulled geraniums. In the past two weeks, volunteers have planted approximately 1,000 cuttings and potted more than 200 plants.
— The committee is working with a nursery to produce 14 large baskets to be hung and in bloom by May 2005.