Committee plants bulbs for a brilliant spring in Chester

©The Chester Telegraph – 2014

Next spring, Chester will light up with the brilliant yellow of 1,800 giant King Alfred daffodils thanks to the Chester Beautification Committee with the help of the Springfield Garden Club and students from the Green Mountain Union High School’s Opportunities in Learning Program. Yesterday, Tuesday, Sept. 30, at least a dozen volunteers dug, tilled and planted the bulbs.

Carol Gilbert, co-chair of the project along with Nancy Rugg, said the volunteers planted bulbs along the Brookside Cemetery wall, around the Public Tomb, Hearse House, monuments and gazebos. Buying the bulbs was made possible by donations from local residents and businesses.

The King Alfred, double nose yellow daffodils that will come up next spring and bloom for about three weeks will have “a big wow factor,” according to Gilbert. John Donarum, School to Work coordinator for Opportunities in Learning, said the student volunteers enjoy getting outdoors and working on projects like the planting.

The Chester Beautification Committee – part of the Chester Economic Development Corp. – was responsible for placing planters filled with flowers around town this summer and more recently has applied for a grant to rehabilitate the Hearse House that stands at the entrance to the Brookside Cemetery. Committee chair Tory Spater says that the group continues to look for ways to spruce up Chester as a way to encourage economic activity.

Carol Gilbert unloads King Alfred bulbs from the trunk of her car. Photos by Shawn Cunningham Click a photo to launch the gallery

Townsend Gilbert rototills around a cannon.

More work is being done around the monuments.

Opportunities in Learning students plants along side a monument.

Nancy Rugg and Cheryl LeClerc dig in by the Brookside Cemetery Wall.