A park for Alna
Austin Trask, 8, of Alna pauses amid the new trees he was recently helping to plant at the Alna Fire Station. A park there will be named in memory of resident Lemuel Brown. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Austin Trask, 8, of Alna pauses amid the new trees he was recently helping to plant at the Alna Fire Station. A park there will be named in memory of resident Lemuel Brown. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Motorists on Alna’s Route 218 may have noticed a change in the scenery lately as they pass by the fire station. Alna firefighters and other volunteers have been working together to create a park at the station, for all to enjoy, Fire Chief Mike Trask said.
The area where ginkgo trees and other plantings have been going in is already looking better, and will continue to as the trees grow, Trask said on Sept. 30.
The park will be named in memory of a neighbor and friend to the fire department, Lemuel Brown, Trask said. Brown died in March.
Since the station got its addition in 2009, Trask, former selectman Chris Cooper and others have worked to beautify the grounds. That work has expanded with a grant, along with $1,000 from the town, and cash and in-kind donations from the fire department and others, Cooper said. He wrote the grant request and is serving as the project’s manager.
Cooper, Trask, Trask’s son Austin Trask, 8, and several other volunteers turned out to work on the project Sept. 22.
Among the new plantings are azaleas, five ginkgo trees, and a pair of heptacodium trees, which Cooper said he put near the road because of their unusual look. They will produce white flowers in September; the calyx, or woody base of the flower, turns purple in October, he said.
Cooper has noticed a couple of flowers so far, but both trees need time to grow their roots, he said. He declined to predict how many falls will come before they are flowering fully.
“Wait for it,” he said.
Ames Supply in Wiscasset has donated fertilizer, lime and the use of an excavator for the project; Hanley Construction of Bristol has donated top soil; and Jeff Verney of Alna has donated a dirt-fill subsoil, Cooper said.
Project Canopy, a program of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, announced the $4,478 grant in January. The money comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service Community Forestry Assistance Program, according to the state’s press release in January.
When more money is raised, Trask would like to add a bench or two.
Event Date
Address
United States
