Pound Ridge Pride Day is ‘Town at its Best’

POUND RIDGE, N.Y. – Pound Ridge officials have long said the town’s biggest strength is its volunteerism. On Sunday afternoon, the second annual Pound Ridge Pride Day provided a shining example of that.

The event, sponsored by the Pound Ridge Partnership, is designed to bring out volunteers to help beautification efforts in the Scotts Corners business district by planting flowers and cleaning up trash. Area civic and town organizations line the streets in booths to provide information about their causes as part of a block party that features live music, barbecue and lemonade. There was plenty of fun for the kids as well, including a bouncy castle and a pie-eating contest.

Sue Grissom, co-chair of the Pound Ridge Pride committee, said that the turnout for the beautification portion of the day was outstanding.

“It was great – we had a lot of people show up that we didn’t expect,” she said. “We had a lot of families that were out there planting together.”  Plum Plums cheese shop did container gardening with the kids and architect Jim Best led a team to clean up the trash receptacles, she added.

In the wake of the beautification effort, freshly planted flower beds added an explosion of color up and down Westchester Avenue.

Dennis Mele, an original Pound Ridge Pride member and a member of the town’s architecture committee, said Pride Day was a collaborative effort.

“The property owners, the Partnership and all the volunteers came together,” he said while planting some annuals in front of Pound Ridge Wines & Spirits. “This is the third time we’ve closed the street for an event and the police have it down to a science. It’s just a lot of fun for everyone.”

Mele said much of the credit for the day’s success should be given to Grissom and her co-chair Terry Pike.

“They have worked the hardest and really spearheaded the whole thing,” he said. “We just supply the sweat equity.”

The centerpiece of the event was the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new courtyard that the Partnership along with sundry volunteers built between Plum Plums and Promo Queens. As part of the ceremony, Pound Ridge landscape architect Louis C. Fusco was presented with the Partnership’s second annual David and Lois Anderson Beautification Award for his contribution to the courtyard project.

“This day is an example of Pound Ridge at its best,” said Supervisor Gary Warshauer. “The new (courtyard) looks great. They’ve done some serious landscaping. All our volunteers are out here today. It’s exciting stuff.”

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