J.D. Potié
SHAWVILLE May 11, 2019
On May 11, around 50 Pontiac residents gathered at Mill Dam Park in Shawville to do some community cleaning in celebration of Earth Day.
Organized by the Parent’s Voice Shawville, the event provided the community an opportunity to get together, soak up some sun and get the park ready for the new season.
With groups of people scattered throughout the yard picking up trash and raking leaves, kids either helped out their parents or hung around in the play structures.
Along with the cleaning initiative, the organization has also decided to add a fresh coat of paint to the little toy box on the playground. The box will be painted in red and some of the old toys will be replaced by new ones, according to the event’s main organizer Alina Holmes.
For Holmes, cleaning up the park after such a long and grueling winter is imperative. Being such a popular location for parents to spend time with their kids its important to keep renovating and keeping the area as well maintained as possible.
“The [Mill Dam] park is incredible,” she said. “It’s honestly better than any of the parks I have seen in the [town]. So, we are very blessed to have it. And we have been working hard over the last few years to make little improvements and additions here and there as we can.”
Among this year’s new addition’s Holmes is eager for the new picnic tables, the free book shelf and a new batch of sand to be put in place – all the more reason to be excited about this upcoming summer in the municipality.
Extremely satisfied with the turnout, Holmes was thankful for her community’s overwhelming support to the organization’s events.
“We are frankly very lucky to live in the community that we live in,” she said. “Everybody, as soon as you put out a call for volunteers for something, everybody shows up.”
