Mill Street Park Revival

Noelle Fries came to Mill Street Park looking for a place to grow a garden. What she found was a pavilion with a three-foot drop where stairs used to be, benches that had given up their fight with time, and a neighborhood that had been talking about a community garden since 2008 — but had nothing to gather around yet. She started making calls.

We have two work days planned: Saturday, September 14 and Saturday, September 28. Come to one or both. The work is physical, specific, and completable in a day: three crews — bench repair, pavilion structure, and roof — with clear jobs and the right tools. If September 14 gets us to a good place, September 28 finishes it. If it takes both days to get there, September 28 is when we find out.

Mill Street Park sits at the corner of Mill Street and Center Street in the Village of Ellenville. It's been easy to walk past for a long time. It won't be after this.

What we're doing:

• Repairing and repainting all park benches
• Stabilizing and renovating the pavilion structure
• Replacing the roof — new plywood, new shingles
• Building proper stairs back where there's currently a three-foot drop
• General grounds cleanup

Slutsky Lumber is providing wood. Ace Hardware is bringing paint and brushes. Local businesses are handling food — you won't work hungry. The Village of Ellenville has a dump truck on standby. Local contractors are leading the structural work and bringing the power tools to do it right.

What to bring: your own hand tools if you have them, clothes you can work in, water. No experience necessary for most of the work — show up and we'll find you the right job.

Flowering Sun Ecology Center is joining because of what comes after: a community garden at Mill Street Park. That's what Noelle came here to build. The restoration is how we earn the ground to build it on. The garden has been discussed in this neighborhood since 2008. This is the first physical act of making it real.

Come help us fix the park. The garden is next.