In the coming weeks, the Village Beach will take on a decidedly more colorful appearance.
Saugerties Girl Scouts will do a host of clean-up, plantings and painting in the coming weeks as part of their Bronze Award project.
Saugerties trustees gave the go-ahead at their June 1 meeting.
Troop members Sophie Turner, Anna Myers, Spencer Flanagan, Caelin Piper, Tyler Bodie and Savannah Meade, who are juniors in the troop, told trustees that, “as Girl Scouts, this is our first big award as juniors.”
Scouts recently met with George Terpening, superintendent of parks, buildings and grounds, to discuss the project. The girls will paint the playground equipment, plant a perennial garden in front of the Village Beach sign, plant a shade tree, re-seed the grass, stain the tops of picnic tables and paint the frames, as well as obtain donations of perennial flowers, shrubs and a tree. They will also work with a local artist to paint a mural on the back face of the bathroom building.
Terpening’s department will provide paint and brushes and woodchips around the play equipment. It will also sand the tops of the picnic tables to prepare them for staining, paint the building a solid color to cover the graffiti, and churn up the beach sand to get rid of sand bee nests.
The Scouts have also asked the village Department of Public Works to repaint the worn-out Saugerties Beach sign, install new “No Smoking” signs, and either trim back or pull out two tree stumps.
Turner said the girls were originally going to do work at the Small World Playground but opted for the Village Beach, “because the village needs the help.”
“This is an ambitious project,” said Trustee Vincent Buono.
“And it’s a wonderful idea,” Mayor William Murphy added. He said the beach is already a non-smoking area but the signs must have been torn down. He suggested the girls also contact the village Shade Tree Commission for the donation of a tree.
The Scouts said they would like to begin the project in the coming weeks so it would be completed in time for the July 4 opening of the beach.
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