VOLUNTEERS HELP SPRUCE UP CITY PARKS

The city's parks have an extra sparkle today, thanks to the work of hundreds of volunteers who spent their Saturday morning picking up trash, painting and planting.

Most of the activity during the seventh annual Friends of the Park Day was concentrated at Capaha Park, where up to 500 adults and children scoured the park with trash bags, separating the limbs from trash, painted the outside of the pool and swept clean the inside, and planted flowers most everywhere.

The Fiberglas playground equipment also received a coat of wax, which will extend its life.

The event is sponsored by the city's Parks and Recreation Department. It drew both pre-registered groups and individual drop-ins.

The Broadway entrance to the park was closed for the morning, and Schnucks provided the volunteers with a post-cleanup hot-dog roast.

Mark Sullivan, parks foreman for the city, estimated that 80 of the 55-gallon bags would be filled with limbs and leaves and 25 with trash. Each bag holds 55 gallons.

Among the groups helping out were Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, garden clubs, the Sierra Club, the Exchange Club, the American Legion, the Harley Hogs and two organizations from Southeast Missouri State University Angel Flight and Gamma Sigma sorority.

Daisy Troop 111 from Franklin School planted magic charms on Cherry Hill and dianthus at the entrance of the municipal pool. Leader Mary Keller said the kindergarteners "really enjoyed it. We had a lot of flying dirt."

Groups also were busy at some of the city's other parks, said Parks and Recreation Director Dan Muser, who was on the radio running the event.

Other parks spruced up volunteers Saturday were Cherokee, May Greene Garden and Washington Park. Arena Park received the same treatment earlier in the week.

"It's a lot more organized than it was the first couple of years," Muser said.

He called the cleanup effort a big help, saying, "There's never a lack of trash. There'll be some more tomorrow."

Muser said the city tries to open a new flower bed in Capaha Park each year. Earlier this year, daffodils, day lilies, burning bush and ornamental grasses were planted on the two islands in the lagoon.