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Group Preps Park For Summer Play

Burlington, Vermont - April 16, 2008

With spring weather finally here many people are spending more time in local parks, soaking up the sun or going for a walk. While most are out to simply have fun, one group of Burlington residents is out to make sure a park with more than a century of history is looking good for visitors.

The group is called Friends of Ethan Allen Park. Formed a few years ago, it now boasts 15 members, with two more interested people signing up Wednesday night.

Three years ago the all-volunteer group started maintaining access to the Ethan Allen Tower at the park. It used to be open 24 hours a day between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The Burlington Parks and Recreation Department says it used to get complaints about noise from the tower late at night and it had problems keeping graffiti off the tower. Now volunteers sign up to be Tower Keypers. They are responsible for opening the tower's gate before 9 a.m. and closing it after sunset. Because of the program, the tower is now open from Mother's Day weekend through the end of October, which gives visitors a chance to catch great views of the fall foliage.

"The park itself is amazing in the fall, you know the 360 degree views of foliage in October and September are just fabulous," says Lisa Coven, of the Parks and Rec. Department: "Before the Tower Keypers came up we weren't able to extend that to everybody."

It's not all about glamorous sunsets and breathtaking views though. Every year on Greenup Day volunteers clean up the mounds of pigeon droppings that pile up in the winter. Burlington Parks and Rec will also power wash and paint the steps this summer.

Friends of Ethan Allen Park does more than just maintain the tower. Volunteers also pick up trash, clean up graffiti, remove debris from trails and reports any problems to Parks and Rec.

It's a lot of work but the group's chair says it's all worth it.

"You go out into the trails we have here and it really is, you get lost in the middle of a city," says John Ciempa. "Burlington's a small city but you get lost and your like in the wilderness."

Ciempa and his group will meet at the Ethan Allen Park entrance at 8 a.m. on May 3rd for this year's Greenup Day. Parks and Rec. will also hold a Greenup Day kick-off party at Battery Park that day.

Bianca Slota - WCAX News