Beautify winners hope to inspire Kentucky
Co-ops, governor partner to recognize homegrown projects
WHITNEY LEWIS SAW A ROCK and picked it up.
Fast-forward six years to Lewis in the Kentucky Capitol rotunda, accepting the 2023 Beautify the Bluegrass Governor’s Award. Not for picking up rocks, but for picking up trash, filling more than 2,000 bags with litter found while kayaking or hiking in Kentucky.
And it all started with picking up a rock and putting it in her pocket.
“I thought, well, if I’m taking from nature, the best thing to do would be to give back,” Lewis says.
“Last year, March 23, I decided I wanted to do an Earth Day challenge and I wanted to do 500 bags in a month,” the Salt River Electric consumer-member explains. “I collected 750 bags, woke up April 23, and I was like, well, what am I gonna do today? I’m gonna go get some more trash.”
As Lewis chronicled her efforts on Facebook, others joined the Cleaning Up Kentucky effort, catching the attention of Beautify the Bluegrass, a partnership between the governor’s office, Kentucky’s electric cooperatives and Kentucky Living, to recognize Kentuckians and homegrown beautification efforts.
“It seemed to ignite at that point,” Lewis says.
Nominations are now being accepted through July 15 on KentuckyLiving.com for the 2024 Beautify the Bluegrass Governor’s Award.
“I am so grateful to every individual, family and organization that volunteered their time and showed love to their communities,” says Gov. Andy Beshear.
“Like electric co-ops, the people we honor are committed to improving their communities,” adds Kentucky Electric Cooperatives President and CEO Chris Perry. “These projects were not completed to win an award, but they deserve recognition.”
The remaining 2023 Beautify the Bluegrass finalists were:
Somerset Veterans Memorial Park (Pulaski County)
In downtown Somerset, the construction of Somerset Veterans Memorial Park aimed to honor veterans, reduce persistent flooding and beautify a once blighted spot. First and Farmers National Bank donated the seed money to get started but its board chair, John Prather, says citizens make the difference.
“When a community has ownership, a community takes care of it,” Prather says.
“It’s just so exciting,” adds Chris Girdler, president and CEO of the Somerset-Pulaski Economic Development Authority, which supervised the fundraising, design, construction and implementation of the project. “Hopefully it will motivate others to follow suit and do similar projects.”
Manchester Splash Park Upgrade (Clay County)
Jackson Energy Cooperative worked with the Thompson Scholars Foundation to revitalize a splash park in Manchester.
“When you look out there, there are so many areas that just need a little bit of attention and a little bit of care,” says Lisa Baker, the executive administrative assistant at Jackson Energy. “Cooperatives believe in helping our communities. We live in our communities, we work in the communities and we just have a great opportunity to band together, bring a little bit of help and help improve our members’ way of life.”
Dozens of Jackson Energy employees worked on landscaping, painted park benches and installed both a basketball goal and park shelter siding.
Art in the Garden (Marshall County)
Several years ago, at the Marshall County Children’s Art Center in Benton, Dave Shaffer noticed that visitors had no easy access to a small rain garden on the site.
“That began the process of putting in an accessible walkway, gardens, sculpture and making it a special place for Marshall County and anybody who visited,” says Elizabeth Jones, Dave’s wife and one of the 78 volunteers who invested more than 4,500 hours helping transform the garden.
Shaffer volunteered as designer and project manager.
“We had to tear out a lot of stuff and put a lot of new in,” Shaffer says. “Getting the volunteers involved really made it work well for us.”
The Art in the Garden project now includes informational placards about the community’s past, benches, flowers, trees and an outdoor classroom space.
Community Crossroads Mural (Shelby County)
When the owners of the Bagdad Farmers Market asked Sandy Waits Phillips to paint a mural on their newly renovated building to highlight the history of the Shelby County community, her mural experience was limited to helping a friend on one project.
“We said if it didn’t turn out very good, we’d just paint over it,” Phillips laughs.
On the evening of June 26, Phillips found herself elevated on a scissor lift, sketching the projected outlines of a caboose and cornstalks against the background of a huge quilting star. Over the course of the next four-and-a-half weeks, with help on a couple of afternoons from her 12-year-old great-niece, Emma Berry, Phillips turned the brick facade into a community signature.
“One of the reasons that I do projects like this is for her and for my other great nieces and nephews, just to show them that they can do things like this, no matter what age you are or experience you have.”
