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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
Fairfield Beautification Commission honors volunteers, plans lots of projects for 2025
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FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield Beautification Commission held its first Volunteer Appreciation Dinner Dec. 13 at the Fairfield Golf & Country Club.
The event featured awards for volunteers and sponsors who went above and beyond the call of duty in the past year. The Volunteer of the Year Award went to Jerry Leonard, while the Sponsor of the Year Award went to Chuck and Jan Espy. Receiving the Youth Volunteer of the Year Award was Reyna Gonzalez.
Beautification Commission chairwoman Deborah Williamson said there were many Volunteer of the Year candidates.
“It came down to how heavily involved Jerry is with so many volunteer activities, and he still takes so much time to help us,” Williamson said. “We caught him watering flowers downtown one day with his watering truck, and we didn’t even know he was going to do that.”
Williamson said Chuck and Jan Espy are very generous in their donations and in sharing their thoughts and ideas. She said that Chuck has been a mentor to her, and she’s especially thankful for that. Youngster Reyna Gonzalez has participated in nearly every major event the commission held in 2024, on top of a full plate of school activities.
“She gets up early Saturday mornings to come work with us for those big events,” Williamson said.
The beautification commission holds a Streetsweepers Ball in April to clean up the downtown in preparation for planting fresh flowers in the garden nodes a few weeks later. This past year, the commission also spruced up the downtown before RAGBRAI came through in July. Other projects included rejuvenating Petra Park’s plantings, cleaning around the town’s five entrance signs, and painting big garden rocks in the style of “Woodstalk,” Fairfield’s RAGBRAI theme.
A new thing the commission did in 2024 was to landscape four Habitat for Humanity homes on North 12th Street. Another new one was planting 3,000 tulips downtown.
“I can’t wait for spring when they come up,” Williamson said.
Beautification Commission projects to look forward to in 2025 and beyond include:
- Streetsweepers Ball and Planting Party in spring.
- Four new self-watering plants on Burlington Avenue.
- Landscaping of new roundabout at intersection of South Main Street and Libertyville Road.
- Landscaping Second Street railroad underpass.
- Adding six new commission members.
- Establishing a Nuisance Committee to assist the city’s Chief Compliance Officer.
- Expanding Rose Award to include storefront displays.
- Creating a landscaping tool shed at Habitat ReStore for members of the public to check out tools.
- Designing a pollinator garden for Maasdam Barns.
- Landscaping on the city-owned empty lots that will soon have new 3-bedroom and 2-bathroom homes on South Sixth Street and South Seventh Street.
- Remodeling the downtown public restroom that’s a block west of the square, adding a family bathroom with a changing table in addition to the men’s and women’s restrooms.
- Repairing sidewalks, starting with the sidewalk on Court Street.
- Holding a home renovation contest.
- Installing the patio lights and metal arch in the alley on the north side of the square.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
