Walnut Street is part of the everyday landscape of our lives in South Central, running straight through the heart of our neighborhood. Serving as the border to downtown at the tracks, our neighborhood’s section of Walnut signals the entrance to Muncie’s south side. For everyone crossing the tracks, they live and work here or are just passing through, we want our neighborhood’s appearance to offer a warm welcome.
After two years of planning together with South Central neighbors and business owners as well as people who work in the city and at Ball State, we are ready to landscape the empty beds along Walnut from the tracks to Willard. All South Central neighbors are invited to join us for a volunteer work day on Friday, September 28, beginning at 9am. We will meet at Delaware Dynamics to plant and mulch grasses, daisies, lilies, and a few trees. All materials and lunch will be provided for volunteers. Even if you cannot stay to help, come by and cheer us on!
This project is coming together thanks to a roughly $15,000 Lowes grant through the 8twelve Coalition, generous work from Vectren Energy employees, and with support from the Muncie Action Plan’s Muncie Neighborhoods. A special thank-you to Mike Planton from the Urban Forestry Board for his help in designing the plans and to Delaware Dynamics for hosting our planning sessions.
We could not be more excited about this dream becoming a reality. We can’t wait to see the flowers blooming in the summer and the tall grasses still waving in the winter, welcoming us all home. This project is an encouraging example of what our community can do when those of us who live in South Central dream here and work to grow here together.