Volunteers and city staff worked Saturday at the new succulent garden outside City Hall, a Santa Paula Beautiful Cleanup Day project that is drought tolerant as well as attractive.

AIB: SP Beautiful Cleanup Day
spruces up Santa Paula for competition

May 06, 2015
Santa Paula News

Volunteers grabbed gloves for beautification Saturday when a variety of helpers including city staff worked to spruce up Santa Paula in time for this week’s judging for a national competition.

The Santa Paula Beautiful Cleanup Day started at 8 a.m. May 2 when volunteers gathered at the Gazebo to get their assignments.

America in Bloom Santa Paula Chapter oversaw the event that included planting flowers on Main Street and creating a succulent garden right outside City Council Chambers at City Hall.

The ground for the latter project was already stripped of grass, cleared and treated when volunteers and city staff arrived to plant drought resistant succulents and place smaller, decorative boulders before groundcover was spread throughout the area.

Volunteers also weeded and cleaned the linear parks in Railroad Plaza including the Bike Trail, as well as Main Street and Harvard Boulevard.

“It went great, we probably had 50 to 60 volunteers that showed up,” ready to work said Dianne Davis, the president of the local AIB chapter.

“Volunteers picked up bags and bags of trash,” in designated areas.

Due to the number of helpers the work area was expanded to clean up sections of 10th Street and Palm Avenue.

Davis was pleased with the results of the drought resistant succulent garden planted outside City Hall where the city installed irrigation and finished off the transformation with mulch.

Overall, “The participation was fantastic,” and in at least one case spontaneous.

Davis said while volunteers were pulling weeds outside the Santa Paula Police Station on South 10th Street a man with two young children and a toddler pulled up.

The passerby, whom Davis said knew one of the teenage volunteers, “put the baby in the stroller in the shade and then he and the older kids helped pull weeds!” 

Alex Flores and his Future Farmers of America group were on hand to help, as was SPPD Cadet Martha Reynolds-Brown, who brought several Explorers who also pitched in to beautify Santa Paula.

Davis said Evelyn Alemmani and Jack Clausen, judges for the America in Bloom National Competition are arriving in Santa Paula this week: AIB organizers and supporters have an itinerary of places ready to show off to the judges that will rank the city on six criteria, from environmentally friendly practices and projects and landscaping to historical and cultural resources and beyond.

Last year the local AIB chapter — which competes against cities of a like size — won Honorable Mention in several categories as well as a Community Champion Prize for Dianne Davis, who with her husband Dudley Davis founded the Santa Paula AIB.

The couple founded the local chapter of AIB following their own efforts to beautify Main Street with hanging baskets and planters filled with colorful flowers that are maintained.





Site Search

E-Subscribe

Subscribe

E-SUBSCRIBE
Call 805 525 1890 to receive the entire paper early. $50.00 for one year.

webmaster