THE PARRISH COMMUNITY PARK

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"Yeah! " they all shouted in unison.

"But we aren't going to do that . . . because this park is for your parents and grandparents, and they don't want to see it messed up. OK?"

"OK," was the (more subdued) response. Still, I slept badly that night, worrying about what the next morning might reveal . . . but, happily, I arrived at the site the following day to find a beautifully clean, unmarked new walk.

Meanwhile, the rest of the construction was progressing smoothly. Because the park — with its added topsoil — turned out to be two feet higher than the sidewalk, we erected a retaining wall from the poles Bell had donated. We found that there weren't enough posts to go the distance, so we split them in half and built a very attractively edged planting bed. Then we completed the park's grand entrance by using an old marble step we'd discovered while clearing the lot.

Our next move was to fence the park to keep out the city's dog population . . . thereby relieving the neighborhood of the usual urban dog problems. Lumber for the fence was provided by the block association, and there was enough left over for the nearby elementary schoolchildren to assemble a few picnic tables. (The classes simply incorporated the project into their workshop program.)

Finally, the Philadelphia branch of the Garden Club of America arrived with trees and seeds . . . and experts to help Parrish residents landscape their new park. Old oak beams and railroad ties were used to set off the flowerbeds and the public vegetable garden.

Forty-six days after the first meeting — and after a total expenditure of one dollar — the park's dedication ceremony took place . . . complete with a truckload of public officials and the Police and Firemen's Band of Philadelphia. And today — five years later — there hasn't been one instance of vandalism at the site . . . perhaps because every single person in the community pitched in to build the Parrish Community Park, and who would want to destroy that which he or she has created?

EDITOR'S NOTE: MOTHER NO. 65 — which includes the article about the Urban Homestead program as well as a piece, by Paul Hogan, describing ways to build no-cost playground equipment — is available for $3.00, plus $1.00 shipping and handling, from THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS, P.O. Box 70, Hendersonville, North Carolina 28791.

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