Parks get facelifts for Parks Appreciation Day

On April 18, residents of Fife, Milton and Edgewood will celebrate Parks Appreciation Day (PAD) by cleaning up grounds, spreading mulch, trimming trees, and of course, planting more flowers and trees in neighborhood parks.

PAD is a combination of April’s environmental-based holidays – Arbor Day, Earth Day and National Parks Week – and it allows for local residents to celebrate the multitude of benefits that parks yield to community members of all ages, and to give back to these locations in a manner that makes an immediate impact.

PAD is a countywide event, and that means individuals participating are a part of an effort with nearly 2,000 people working in their local parks at the same time.

This year, Fife residents will be working on Fountain Memorial Park, and the plan is to plant flowers and prune shrubs, pull weeds, and take care of general cleanup.

“We plan to plant 15-20 flats of flowers. It’s mostly the same as our event last year, and we choose Fountain Park because we consider it to be the gateway to our city,” said Kurt Reuter, parks and recreation director for the city of Fife.  

Milton residents will work on Triangle Park, and will be preparing flower beds for a fuchsia garden that, according to the city of Milton website, “will be planted during the first part of May by the Puyallup Chapter of the Northwest Fuchsia Society.” The Milton Parks Department will be providing water and snacks for all volunteers.

In Edgewood, PAD takes place from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. in the city’s most often used park, Edgemont. Volunteers there will be “painting the wooden tables, cleaning up the planting area around the flagpole, planting small colorful plants in the planter box in the parking area, spreading new beauty bark and doing general pickup around the park,” said Diane Kerlin, chair of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board for the city of Edgewood.

The city is also seeking out donations of perennial flowering plants such as primroses, and summer bulbs and beauty bark. To donate these items ahead of time, contact Bonnie at Edgewood City Hall. Snacks will also be served for their volunteers.

As for the amount of volunteers that will be in attendance, it all depends on Mother Nature.

“Last year it rain, blew, there was snow with rain, but civic, city, parks, Rotary and Kiwanis people still came,” Reuter stated. “(PAD) builds a sense of community, and gives people ownership of Fife and to be a better place. As you drive by, you have pride in helping the park look as good as it could this year.”  

The Arbor Day Cele-bration in Fife will also take place on April 18 after PAD events, and volunteers will be heading to Wedge Park to plant a few trees ceremoniously for holiday observance. “Hopefully we will get a good turnout of volunteers to help for both activities,” Reuter noted.

In 2008, there were an estimated 2,022 volunteers across Pierce County who together donated 6,000 hours of their time to local parks, despite less than ideal weather conditions including snow and rain. The value of their efforts was estimated to be $90,000. Together, more than 200 bags of litter were picked up, 40 yards of gravel spread, 2,000 plants planted, and 605 yards of mulch and chips were spread over all the sites.

Not only does volunteering for PAD help the community, but it also ultimately helps the volunteers in attendance. Helping to beautify a park that means something to the volunteers gets them active and in the outdoors, brings awareness to their environment and that brings communities together in a win-win for all parties involved.

Those interested in volunteering in their community should wear warm or weather-appropriate clothing, and bring small hand tools, pruners, loppers, rakes, shovels, pitchforks, gloves, and even wheelbarrows from their homes. Car-pooling to chosen sites is also highly recommended.

PAD takes place on April 18 at parks in Fife, Milton and Edgewood. For more information about PAD, contact the parks department representative or office in your city.

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