Flower Power: Community groups come from near and far to plant Central Avenue

This month, Central Avenue was visited by students, an international delegation, and local youth, and all came to lend a hand with landscaping on Central Avenue.

 On September 6, College of Saint Rose students came to Central Avenue as part of their “Reach Out Saint Rose Day”, and helped the CBID staff plant mums on Lower Central Avenue between Robin and Henry Johnson Blvd. College of Saint Rose President Dr. Carolyn Stefanco stopped by to see how the crew was doing and learn a little bit more about Central Avenue. With the college's increased focus on international students, she was interested to learn what an international community Central Avenue has become, she said. Reach Out Saint Rose Day is a community service day, when hundreds of students fan out into the community and help local organizations with projects, including painting, light repairs and gardening. Here's photos of the planting event. 

The following Friday, September 12, visitors from the International Center for the Capital Region came to Central Avenue to learn and then, stuck around to plant flowers, too. The group included representatives of community and governmental agencies in Poland who came to New York State for three days to learn more about civil society program, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like our. While at the BID, we talked with them about the history of the organization, European counterparts, and the projects we have undertaken. Then, we hit the streets with shovels and rakes, to plant and mulch tree wells along Central Avenue.

Finally, youth from the Equinox Outreach Center pitched in to plant the last of the 100 flowers last week. Altogether, three community groups planted 25 tree wells and two beds, with 210 flowers.

The plantings took place in Central Avenue’s Main Street section. Known for its human size-buildings and small family-owned businesses, this part of Central Avenue has always had a neighborhood feel, and projects like these, where business owners, residents, and community organizations work together to beautify the area, only enhance this sense of community. This is the third annual planting that the BID has done with community groups. The project started in 2012 with College of Saint Rose, Equinox Youth Outreach Center, and Townsend Park Homes.