NEW ALBANY —
Tomorrow is the big day.
No matter who you are, you can play a part in the City Beautification Day in New Albany on Saturday. Volunteers will be planting flowers, removing dead vegetation and cleaning city blocks throughout New Albany.
The event is sponsored by Keep New Albany Clean & Green — a grassroots organization launched last year by city resident and former mayoral candidate Irv Stumler.
Using private donations, Keep New Albany Clean & Green has purchased new wayfaring signs for the city, and taken part in several efforts to spruce up the area.
“This is that same effort — to make New Albany a better place to live, work and visit,” said Stumler on Thursday, as he took a break from power washing the roof of the former downtown Farmer’s Market off Scribner Drive.
It was a volunteer act by Stumler, and he said getting residents to take ownership in keeping the city tidy and appealing is a sizable part of the mission of the organization.
And there will be plenty to do Saturday for volunteers, Stumler said.
“The more people we get, the further out we can reach,” said Stumler, who serves as president of the Keep New Albany Clean & Green board.
The vice president of that board is Jerry Finn, who also is the executive director of the Horseshoe Foundation of Floyd County. Last year, the Horseshoe Foundation provided Keep New Albany Clean & Green with a $10,000 grant that has footed the purchase of flowers, plants and mulch for Saturday’s event.
“We have just a beautiful little river city and I think for too long we’ve forgotten how nice it is and how pretty it is,” Finn said. “It’s just a matter of trying.”
Keep New Albany Clean & Green would like to have annual spring and fall cleanup events, Finn said. The organization has taken the lead, but the success of the events will depend on resident participation, he continued.
“Along with setting an example, we hope that we can provide support as well as resources that they might need,” Finn said.
The event is slated for 8 a.m. to noon, and volunteers are asked to bring their own gloves, shovels, brooms, weed-pullers and other landscaping equipment. Mulch and garbage bags will provided by Develop New Albany and Keep New Albany Clean & Green.
Volunteers are asked to gather in the MainSource Bank parking lot, located at 100 E. Spring St., before starting their cleanup missions. Several civic organizations have organized volunteers to participate, and Finn said the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association has committed to taking part in the cleanup. He said hopefully other neighborhood associations will organize cleanups and beautification efforts in their respective areas Saturday.
“This year, we’ve really tried to make it a citywide day,” he said.
Crews will start downtown and work outward, Stumler said.
Saturday’s event is just one of the efforts Keep New Albany Clean & Green is organizing. Beyond actual physical work, Stumler and other organization members have appeared regularly at New Albany Board of Public Works and Safety meetings. They have implored the city to clean up public property as a way to set example for private land owners.
“I’m of the opinion the city should take the lead in maintaining properties,” Stumler said.
There’s no fee to join Keep New Albany Clean & Green. For more information, call 812-948-0018.
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