Volunteers gather to beautify downtown Youngstown

June 5, 2016 at 12:06a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

When you hear the popular slogan “This Bud’s for You,” it’s easy to automatically conjure up images of beer and sporting events, but in this case, the phrase has a lot more to do with beautification than beer.

“I’m putting mulch down where there isn’t fertilizer and planting flowers,” 9-year-old Emma Hawkins of Youngstown said in describing one of her roles in adding beauty, color and greenery to the city’s downtown.

Emma and her mother, Elizabeth Hawkins, busily added to a lot on West Federal Street flowers such as celosia, which are feathery, spike-shaped annuals that often display sharp red, pink, cream, yellow and orange blossoms. It wasn’t long before a load

of mulch dumped near Emma and Elizabeth was added to their beautification efforts.

Mother and daughter also were among the estimated 600 volunteers who took part in Youngstown Streetscape’s effort Saturday morning dubbed “Youngstown: This Bud’s for You.”

About 275 of them were with the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership and on hand also to perform a service project. The 58-year-old national HOBY organization is committed to inspiring young people and adults to lead lives dedicated to leadership, innovation and community service, according to its mission statement.

Hosting the four-hour gathering – in its 16th year – were Youngstown State University’s Department of Campus Recreation and Youngstown CityScape, a nonprofit, community-development agency dedicated to the revitalization of the city and its gateways via beautification projects, education and preservation.

Many volunteers fanned out through downtown, including Front Street next to the Covelli Centre, City Hall and the West Federal Street median area, to add mulch, remove weeds and debris, trim and plant a variety of shrubs and flowers. Others took their tools and talents and did the same at Wick and Crandall parks on the North Side, the YSU corridor near the Madison Avenue Expressway and the John Young Memorial.

“I love how the downtown area is being revitalized,” said Elizabeth Hawkins, a member of YSU’s Pete’s Pride organization who is also a graphic designer for Boardman Printing. “I went to school with some of the people who are revitalizing it,” she said.

Also accompanying Elizabeth were her husband, Josh Hawkins, and their 5-year-old son, Henry.

Another mother and daughter happy to add to the city’s aesthetics were Andrea Schoenfeld of Canfield and Josselyn Anderson of Youngstown, both of whom were planting begonias in a garden next to the Realty Tower apartment building downtown.

“I love Youngstown, so I had to come. I’m at the age where it’s fun for me, and seeing [downtown] grow as I get older, it’s kind of cool,” Josselyn said.

Planting is nothing new for Andrea and her daughter, who also are members of the Canfield-based Holborn Herb Growers Guild, a longtime organization that plants herbs and flowers in gardens at the Canfield Fairgrounds’ Western Reserve Village. The guild also maintains a summer kitchen at Boardman Park.

Andrea added that she enjoys Youngstown’s cultural aspects, unique foods and ethnic diversity.

A few people, such as Jazmine Ford of Austintown, worked alone but with the same purpose. Ford, who volunteered on behalf of First National Bank downtown, took her time adding tulips to a large flower pot outside of the Huntington Bank building on Wick Avenue.

The situation was much the same at Wick Park, where volunteers beautified the park’s four main entrances by adding begonias, dragon wings and other flowers while getting rid of weeds and dead branches.

“I’ve noticed the downtown is more organized and better looking,” observed Richard Curtis, who moved to the area about seven years ago from Hilton Head, S.C., and was volunteering with a group from Cohen & Co., a certified-public-accounting firm on East Commerce Street.

Curtis, a delivery driver for an Akron business, said he would like to see more outdoor music festivals and concerts in the city but added he feels Youngstown is continuing to move in the right direction.

Taking home the satisfaction of having done something to spruce up the city and surrounding environs isn’t the only benefit volunteers can enjoy. Those who wear their red “Youngstown Screetscape” T-shirts will receive free admission all of this month to OH WOW! The Roger & Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science & Technology, noted Suzanne Barbati, executive director.