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FAIRFIELD – Bob Ferguson is on a mission to rid downtown Fairfield of weeds.

Ferguson is a member of the Fairfield Beautification Commission, and is spearheading its “weed-free team” that’s tackling undesirable plants that grow in sidewalk cracks and in the alleys. He dons a backpack sprayer filled with a non-toxic weed killer made of a gallon of vinegar, a cup of Epsom salt and a tablespoon of dish liquid (though Ferguson personally likes Shaklee Basic-H Cleaner). This solution desiccates the weeds, and within a few days they’re dead.

“It makes the street look fabulous,” Ferguson said after he scrapes away all the dead weeds. “I can cover a city block in about 15 minutes. With that backpack sprayer, I can spray as fast as I can walk. It’s extremely efficient.”

Ferguson has his sights set on clearing weeds from the nine blocks that comprise the downtown, going one block out in every direction from Central Park. With each block having four sides, this means he has to clear 36 sides, and he’s done 10 so far.

“Some of them were completely filled with weeds,” he said. “The block between Café Paradiso and the Orpheum was egregious. Now when you look, it’s perfectly clean.”

Ferguson has used his own money to purchase virtually all of the vinegar used so far, about 70 gallons. And this clean-up has not cost the city a dime. Other members of the commission have their own tasks they’re responsible for, such as commission chairwoman Deborah Williamson, who is in charge of watering all the hanging flower baskets and receptacles.

Ferguson said a few factors motivated his desire to clean up the downtown. One of them was the downtown assessment from the state’s Downtown Resource Center, where a group of experts in economic development spent three days studying Fairfield’s downtown last November.

“The assessment documented the fact that the downtown was tired in many ways, and this has been obvious to me,” Ferguson said. “For years, I thought, ‘If I could just bring a barrel of tools, I could make this place look so much better.’ When we began to spray the weeds, I found a faster, more efficient way of doing it, and sought to rid the whole nine-block area of street and sidewalk weeds. Of all the things we can do to improve the feel of the town, this is among the most important, because it will lead to a much more inviting downtown.”

The other factor pressing Ferguson into service is knowing that a representative of the Intelligent Community Forum will visit Fairfield this year after the city was named to its prestigious list of Top 7 Intelligent Communities in the world. Ferguson was also the driving force in collecting information on Fairfield’s unique entrepreneurial spirit to use in the city’s application.

“When I thought about having an ICF site visitor come and see our downtown, filled with sidewalk and street weeds, I was not enthusiastic,” he said. “We get so used to it, but when you see the before and after [photos], it’s shocking.”

The beautification commission is encouraging the public to do their part to spruce up the downtown, too, and that’s why it’s holding a clean-up event from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, July 12. Ferguson said they appreciate any help they can get, but recognize this kind of work is not for everybody.

“Scraping weeds in the hot sun is not everyone’s idea of a lot of fun, but for me, it’s the most fun you can imagine,” he said.