Ferndale has been Cleaned Up (video)

(C. Proxmire, May 12, 2013)

In its second year, Clean the Ferndale Up brought over 80 residents out to do various clean up projects around the city.  Focusing mainly on parks and major streets, teams picked up trash, raked leaves, and put mulch around trees.  Matt Nowaczok organized the event last year through the Ferndale Community Foundation, and this year was able to raise an additional $600 towards the project with a special fundraiser.  For a $20 donation, folks were entered into a raffle with two winners being chosen to throw  a pie in the face of himself and Councilperson Dan Martin.  The winners of the raffle, who were notified, did not show up, so Mayor Dave Coulter and Councilperson Melanie Piana stepped in as “representatives of the people” to do the pie- facing deed.

Mayor Coulter also thanked everyone who came out to clean, stating “In a lot of communities when people see things they don’t like they point at the mayor, they point at the city council, and say ‘You guys should do this, you guys should do that.’  But in Ferndale what I love is people say ‘I’ll do that.  I see a need.  We need to clean stuff up.  I can do that.'”

Dozens of bags of trash were collected, and the most unusual find was a patch of morel mushrooms growing in Harding Park.  After a morning of working on projects, volunteers gathered at the Emory where they enjoyed a 20% discount from the restaurant’s owners.

To keep up with future Community Foundation projects, check their website at http://ferndalecommunityfoundation.org/.