Pavement to be covered with sod for the "Green Street Challenge"
BY VOICE STAFF
Part of Canboro Road in downtown Fenwick will come alive on Saturday, August 19, when the Town of Pelham hosts its “Green Street Challenge,” swapping the road’s usual asphalt for grass, creating a temporary park in the heart of the village.
The Challenge, which runs from 9 AM – 5 PM, is promoted through Come Alive Outside, a non-profit organization that transforms regularly paved roads into pop-up parks, providing what it calls a unique opportunity for children and families to get outside and enjoy unstructured play, as well as promoting the benefits of a given community’s green spaces.
Ten communities throughout Canada have chosen to participate in the initiative in 2017. Pelham is the first in Niagara to hold the Green Street Challenge. Barb Christopher, of Young Sod Farms in Fenwick, was the inspiration behind the event, first approaching the Town with the idea.
“If this takes off, it could be Fenwick’s Green Street Festival,” said Christopher.
She said that Young Sod is donating about 5,000 sq. ft. of sod to be cut fresh at 4 AM Saturday morning. Several volunteers will start laying it in the centre of Fenwick’s shopping district at 7 AM.
After the event is over, Christopher said that the sod will be donated to a deserving family just down the street from the farm. “It will be at its new home by 7 PM,” she said.
Come Alive Outside partners with the Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association and its professional members across the province in order to create the opportunity for people to live healthier lives outside.
Dekorte’s Landscaping and Nature’s Own Landscape & Design have joined in to lay the sod and roll it up again at the end of the day.
The Fenwick Firefighters Association will ensure the sod stays healthy by watering the sod once it’s laid.
Part of Canboro Road at the intersection of Maple Street will be closed to traffic for the event from 7 AM to approximately 7 PM. Businesses will remain open.
