By Staff
Volunteers tidy up ahead of Saturday’s Beaufort County Traditional Music Festival
By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles &Features Editor
Armed with rakes, trash bags and work gloves, a battalion of volunteers spent Saturday morning bolstering downtown-Washington’s “Spring Sweep.”
Members of the Pine Needles Garden Club, under the direction of president Martie Gahagan, busily planted petunias, marigolds, rosemary, blue stars and Indian hawthorn at the corner of Stewart Parkway and Respess Street.
A riot of color — yellow, purple, pink, blue and red — was blossoming around the base of the club’s “Miss Gemmie Blue,” one of the Crabs on the Move outdoor-art pieces.
Over on Main Street, Jule Mackenzie was spending his day off helping clean up. He was working around one of the trees lining the street.
Saturday’s event was organized by Downtown Washington on the Waterfront (DWOW) with support from the city of Washington, Washington Garden Club, Washington Area Historic Foundation, Pine Needles Garden Club and the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation.
According to Campbell, DWOW Design Committee vice president, the cleanup was conceived as a way for Washington to put its best foot forward for the Beaufort County Traditional Music Festival, planned for next Saturday.
Various groups and individuals tackled areas of downtown Washington that included Main and Water streets, Stewart Parkway and the waterfront, Campbell said.
Photo cutline: Washington resident Kathryn Gaston spruces up plant beds along West Main Street Saturday morning in advance of the April 4 Beaufort County Traditional Music Festival in Washington. Gaston and others were participating in the day’s “Spring Sweep.” (WDN Photos/Paul Dunn)