Northport, E. Northport and Elwood Win Beautification Awards

Winners of the Town of Huntington's 36th Annual Beautification Awards were announced last week.

The Huntington Town Board and the Huntington Beautification Council joined June 19 to honor homeowners, businesses groups, organizations and schools in annual honors. 

Persons, businesses and groups that have carried out projects which improve the appearance of the Town of Huntington and to schools that implement projects with the same goal were recognized, according to a Town of Huntington press release.

The 2012 winners are:

• Residential:  Steve Charron, or 48 Woolsey St., Huntington.
• Residential Renovation: Patricia McDonnell, 16 Clive Pl., East Northport.
• Professional Office: Drs. Roberta and Robin Araujo, 33 Fairview St., Huntington.
• Small Business:  LTP, Inc., 16 Park Circle, Centerport.
• Commercial: , 99 East Main St., Huntington.
• Civic: , for planting and maintaining the Gerard Street roundabout in Huntington Village.
• Community Service: Story Arts Inc. and Long Island Community Agricultural Network, for the murals at the Town’s in Huntington Station.
• Primary School: Washington Drive Primary School, Harborfields District, for their Juice Pouch Brigade program. Students collected empty juice pouches and sent them to a company that turned them into cool-looking bags and pencil cases. The school receives two cents for each juice pouch; so far, more than 25,000 pouches have been collected. The program is further described on the company’s website, www.terracycle.net.
• Elementary School: , Northport-East Northport District, for their Lasagna Garden program. Students gathered materials which would have been discarded or had been recycled, including leaves, newspapers and straw from Halloween decorations. Using composite recycled boards, the students created frames for gardens and layered the discarded materials, lasagna-style. They planted pumpkin seeds and strawberry runners. The project demonstrated plant life cycles, the science of composting, the effectiveness of recycling and the value of cooperation.
• Intermediate School: James H. Boyd Intermediate School, Elwood District, for their Seasonal Garden program.  Their Courtyard Butterfly and Reading Gardens include plants and flowers that attract butterflies and a pond with koi fish to educate and inspire students to develop a scientific mind about plants, animals and ecosystems.
• School:  and Cold Spring Harbor Junior/Senior High School, Cold Spring Harbor District for their Cool Earth program. The Lloyd Harbor school was attracted by the “cool the earth” program, which is designed to educate kids and  families about climate change and then follow through by taking simple, measurable actions at home to reduce carbon emissions. The classes at Lloyd Harbor School went to the junior/senior high school and convinced them to put on a school-wide assembly program featuring a lovable polar bear named Koda who took on the villain, Mr. Carbon. The play ends with the students accepting action cards, going back to their classrooms and homes and carrying out projects which will aid in cooling the earth.

The Beautification Council, a citizen’s advisory committee appointed by the Town Board, is chaired by Dr. William T. Walter. It includes Pat Feder, Sandy Prior, Nancy Schumann, Diane Thurer, Molly Wang and Anne Wesp, who serves as vice chair. They invite additional members. Interested persons should contact Dr. Walter at lcinc@pb.net.