Sarah Pruys
“They’re the darnedest cutest birdhouses you’ve ever seen,” noted BIA chairman Doug Anderson.
The community project involved a long line of locals, and is culminating with new birdhouses being put up on the 100-300 blocks of Scott Street.
The birdhouses were built locally, with the BIA purchasing 33 from Lowey’s Greenhouse and Market Garden.
The BIA then passed them on to Karen Peltomaki’s early-learning class at Robert Moore School to paint.
Finally, Fort High students earned volunteer houses needed to graduate by putting the birdhouses up in the trees.
“That’s how a community works,” enthused Anderson. “It’s a prime example of how a community is supposed to work.
“To me it’s how it should be,” he added. “The kids do stuff, the adults do stuff.
“It’s [the children’s] community, too.”
The BIA came up with the birdhouse idea as a fresh way to revitalize the downtown core.
“We just thought to put things in the trees to make it more interesting for people,” reasoned Anderson.
“We’re going to put 20 [wind] chimes up to go with them,” he added. “To make it more lively, more pedestrian-friendly, more kid-friendly.”
The project has been a success so far.
“So many people have seen them and said, ‘I’d like to buy a birdhouse for my kids to paint,’” Anderson noted.
“Best artwork I’ve every seen, it’s just magical,” he lauded. “Every kid should get an ‘A’ in art no matter what they do.
“I would have loved to see the kids paint them,” Anderson added. “They used acrylic paint, and then they veneered it.”
The birdhouses, which can be cleaned, likely won’t see any birds moving in this year as the nesting season already is well underway finished. But Anderson hopes they will inspire people.
“We’re hoping that someone else will say, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll do this block.’
“I keep waiting for everyone to get united and do this throughout our town,” he remarked.
They also will be six hanging painted gourd birdhouses done by Judy Tucker in some trees.
Further down the road, Anderson said the BIA may look into bat houses, as well, to help with the mosquitoes.
“[But] there’s something about a birdhouse,” he noted.
“What’s really exciting is that we’ve been able to fill six of our vacancies downtown with young, start-up businesses,” Anderson continued.
From the Grind Up, Curvy Chick, and Tonic Tattoos are among the new businesses that have moved onto Scott Street in the past while.
“We’ve been able to get our planters program started, too,” noted Anderson.
Last year, there were 28 businesses that had planters. Two years ago, when the program started, only two businesses were participating.
While there were problems with vandalism at first, the issue has begun to disappear and Anderson hopes even more businesses will add planters outside this year.
Lastly, the BIA recently found “big landscape banners we didn’t know we had.”
The banners, which feature blended American and Canadian flags, already have been put up on Central Avenue.
“So when you come across the bridge, it looks like you’re in an exciting place,” Anderson enthused.
“It is an exciting place.”
