Nicholas Calvert, 6, and his sister, Madison, 9, of Canfield, busily pat down mulch they added to a flowerbed in Youngstown’s Central Square during Saturday’s 24th annual Streetscape program. Hundreds of volunteers took part in the effort to clean and beautify city neighborhoods and landmarks. ...Correspondent photo / Sean Barron

YOUNGSTOWN — Nicholas Calvert fills with glee when he looks out his bedroom window at the sunflower he planted next to his home.

“It needs water and six hours of sunlight,” the 6-year-old Canfield boy said in articulating a bit of scientific acumen.

It’s probably not a stretch to surmise that Nicholas will be filled with joy when he visits the city this summer and fall to see the results of his garden handiwork. That’s because he was among hundreds of volunteers who were happy to get their hands dirty and participate in Saturday’s 24th annual Streetscape program.

Youngstown CityScape hosted the three-hour cleanup and beautification project, themed “The Real Stemulus,” to improve the look of Central Square and many areas throughout the city.

Volunteers spread out to remove debris from, and mulch, weed, trim and plant flowers in, numerous flowerbeds and gardens downtown as well as in Smoky Hollow, next to the South Avenue Bridge Police Memorial, Mahoning Commons, city hall, the John Young memorials, along East and West Federal streets and the four-corner entrances to Wick Park. In addition, they worked in about 25 neighborhoods citywide, Sharon Letson, CityScape’s executive director, noted.

In lieu of the usual lunch afterward, volunteers received gift cards to downtown and other restaurants largely in an effort to assist commerce in the area, she said.

“We’re trying to support the downtown businesses this year so they have help too,” Letson explained.

CENTRAL SQUARE

Nicholas Calvert and his sister, Madison, 9, assiduously placed and smoothed mulch in a comma-shaped flowerbed next to OH WOW! The Roger & Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science and Technology, with help from their father, Bob Calvert, who works at First National Bank next door. In addition to wanting to beautify the city, Madison said she hopes her efforts will allow her bigger motivation to bear additional fruit.

“I’ve planted flowers before,” she said. “I love helping people; it’s one of my favorite things to do. I love flowers when they’re done.”

For his part, Nicholas wished to make one of his favorite cities look more aesthetically pleasing.

“It’s a cool city,” he said about downtown Youngstown.

Being part of Streetscape is valuable also because it instills in young people the importance of giving back and contributing to the betterment of the community, their father explained.

Clusters of volunteers in yellow T-shirts fanned out and performed similar work in numerous flowerpots and flowerbeds along Federal Street and adjacent corridors.

SMOKY HOLLOW

The story was similar along Harrison Field, the gateway to the city’s Smoky Hollow neighborhood and home to many Youngstown State University recreation activities, intramurals and sporting events. Several members of the Mahoning Valley Young Professionals organization lent their hands to mulch and get rid of weeds in two large gardens lining the entrance, across the street from Cassese’s MVR restaurant.

“I’m pulling weeds and overgrown grass. I’m happy for networking opportunities and ways to give back to the community, which we’re committed to,” Joan Reardon, an MVYP member and student at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Law, said.

Reardon and her sister, Shannon Reardon, joined forces to clean one of the two gardens that consists mainly of red rose bushes and daffodils. Harrison Field is significant to the sisters also because it is named after the late Peter A. Harrison, a Major League Baseball umpire from 1916 to 1920 who also is their great-great uncle, Joan Reardon said.

“We hope to keep young people and have them stay and invest in the community,” said Brian Coulter, the MVYP’s president, who added that the organization’s nearly 100 members perform a community-service project monthly.

WICK PARK

Kara Zone of Youngstown busily mulched and planted snapdragons and other flowers at an entrance to the North Side park that, during the age of industrialization, served as the centerpiece for neighborhoods in which lived some of the city’s wealthiest business leaders, entrepreneurs and professionals.

For her, taking part in Streetscape also was a family affair.

“I’ve been trying to find places to volunteer with my kids. Every year, we try to do one or two things for the city,” said Zone, who volunteered to plant and mulch by the park’s southeast entrance at Elm Street and Park Avenue.

Working with Zone were her daughter, Rian McElhinny, 15; Zone’s mother, Marie Meredith; and husband, Brian Diyorio. Groups of volunteers did the same kind of work at the park’s other three main entrances.

ONGOING EFFORT

The Streetscape project is the beginning of a summerlong effort to care for the plants and shrubs that were installed, Scott Schulick, a CityScape board member, explained.

The organization hired eight people to water and maintain the health of the foliage almost daily throughout the summer, and they work until the end of October. Around that time, the summer flowers are removed from the flowerpots and fall seeds are added, he said.

“These pots are used nine months of the year,” Schulick added.

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