There were parents, kids, food, beer from our longtime corporate friend Monnik Beer Co. and entertainment by Squallis Puppeters and Squeeze-bot. A highlight was the formal unveiling of our new steps featuring District 8 Metro Councilwoman Cassie Chambers Armstrong, who arranged for the $10,000 Neighborhood Development Grant to pay for them.
Councilwoman Cassie Chambers Armstrong (left) joined park volunteers Jo Shipley and Brian Caudill in officially opening our new steps.
Volunteer Patti Linn staffed the information table.It wouldn’t be a park without children; here, they gather around the library’s table.A Squallis puppet peers over volunteer Kristin Milwood’s shoulder.Volunteers Patti Linn, Kristen Millwood and visitor Judy Morrison with some new tall friends.Visitor Dee Caudill gets a chalk art lesson.
This year’s Beechwood Park Festival will be held Saturday, Sept. 24, from 2 to 6 p.m. We’ll have music from Squeeze-bot; beer from Monnik Beer Co.; entertainment by Squallis Puppeteers; a hot dog cart, and more.
And we’re planning a ribbon-cutting for our just-completed new steps, made possible by a $10,000 Neighborhood Development grant from District 8 Metro Councilwoman Cassie Chambers Armstrong.
Volunteers Brian Caudill and Ernst Trachsel working in the new pollinator garden.
First, we’re building a pollinator garden with a gift of native pollinator plants from Re-Wilding Louisville, a green initiative sponsored by Idlewild Butterfly Farm, Creasy Mahan Nature Preserve, and the Louisville Audubon Society, and funding from the Mayor’s Give A Day Foundation. The garden offers our neighbors, including Bloom Elementary School students and patrons of the Louisville Free Public Library Highlands-Shelby Park branch, a real-life example of the interdependency of nature and our food ecosystem. It also serves as a demonstration garden to encourage the establishment of pollinator gardens throughout the densely populated Highlands area of Louisville.
Blair Leano-Helvey of Idlewild and volunteer Jo Shipley picking up the plants.
Our other addition is a new set of limestone steps, completed earlier this month, that add a second entrance, and join the first entry built in 2018. The new steps were made possible by a $10,000 Neighborhood Development grant from District 8 Metro Councilwoman Cassie Chambers Armstrong (left).
Here’s a photo chronology of the work done by E-Z Construction:
It took heavy equipment to excavate soil to make room for the steps.Limestone steps are stacked in the foreground.A worker tucks mortar into place.Four steps installed, only a few more to go.One of our youngest neighbors, Patrick Reilly, enjoys the steps.
This year’s annual Give for Good Louisville is Friday, Sept. 17! You can be part of the celebration by giving to your favorite organization (which we know is us!). Visit giveforgoodlouisville.org to find out more.
One of our favorite volunteers, Jo Shipley, has put netting around the trees to protect them from the coming cicada invasion. They look a little spooky!
We gathered wood chips donated by Limbwalker tree service yesterday, then distributed them throughout the park to make it look spiffy. Our cleanup event was part of the Mayor’s Give A Day 2021. See you next year!
Hard work, but well worth it.
We raked up twigs and loose branches throughout the park.
Jo Shipley (left) and Patti Linn pack wood chip mulch around a tree.
Because of a change in the weather forecast, we’ve moved our date to Saturday, April 17, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. It’s still part of the Mayor’s Give A Day 2021. Beechwood Park is on Beechwood Avenue between Baxter and Bardstown Road adjacent to Mid-City Mall. We’ll provide gloves, face masks, hand sanitizer, and cleanup equipment. Come out and enjoy one of Louisville’s newest parks!