Park spruce up organized

Volunteers want to bring life to downtown

A group of community-minded volunteers have been taking on small projects over the past few months in an effort to bring life back into the downtown.

Volunteers recently cleaned the vacant lot on the corner of King and Commercial streets. A second lot on Commercial Street was in need of a cleanup for the recent Terry Fox Run in North Sydney, and some of the same volunteers cleaned that one as well.

“Seeing the work they did, I suggested that the Bobby Joe Ryan Memorial Park on Commercial Street as an area that needed some TLC. We recognize that this is an important place to the children in our downtown,” said volunteer Marylynn Hurley. “I consulted with Bobby Joe’s father, Wayne Ryan, and the manager of (CBRM) parks and grounds for permission to tackle this project which was granted and we began removing the graffiti on this site last week with supplies donated by the Business Improvement Development Association.”

On Saturday, volunteers will gather at the park and with paint donated by Home Hardware in North Sydney, will paint the structures in the playground.

The cleanup of the grounds is expected to begin at 10 a.m. and they expect to be ready to paint at about 1 p.m.

“We have enough volunteers. It’s a small project, but anyone who wants to lend a hand is welcome to drop by Saturday,” said Hurley.