Last April Friends of Cain Park, Friends of Heights Parks and the Cleveland Heights Green team joined forces to host a first annual Clean Up and Green Up day. With grants from Future Heights and Friends of Cain Park we set out to achieve several goals:
- To foster a sense of community and an appreciation of Cain Park
- To pick up trash in and around the park
- To remove invasive species and underbrush from the wooded areas around the park which will improve visibility and increase safety
- To beautify the park by planting native plants around the park
We assembled a team of about thirty volunteers and achieved the following:
- Removed the ivy that was covering the concrete wall alongside the Cain Park offices
- Collected over 20 bags of trash from around the park
- Planted natives Christmas Ferns, Blue Flag Iris, Coneflowers in the island to the left of the main box office
- Weeded the garden to the right of the main box office and planted natives Pennsylvania Sedge, Bush Honeysuckle and Shrubby St. John Wort
- Cleared out underbrush and small trees encroaching on the 2 wooden staircases in the eastern end of the park
- Cleared out underbrush and small trees encroaching on the lampposts on the Goodnor path
As a side project Friends of Cain Park provided funding to pressure wash the pavers in the main box office plaza.
All of the new plantings prospered last summer and should emerge larger and more beautiful this spring. Friends of Cain Park still has a grant to be spent on more plantings this year. Look out for the improvements we made last year and, if you would like to participate, we will have opportunities to work in the park again this year.
Thanks to all of the organizations that contributed to this effort and to the city for their support.
