Keeping Lee County Beautiful

from LIVE Lee - Living To Serve - April 2022

It Takes A Village

The ABC Planting flowers in downtown Auburn. KOB Clean Up Day 2021

Story By Tucker Massey and Shawn Kirkpatrick Photos By Robert Noles and Contributed By The Auburn Beautification Council

AUBURN:

The Auburn Beautification Council, or ABC, is a non-profit initiative that was established in 1972. The purpose of the ABC is simple: keep Auburn beautiful.

Whether this is through planting a local garden or decorating the streets of downtown Auburn, the ABC believes that the beauty of this town is part of its worth. And to make this group even more special, it is completely comprised of volunteers who have the good of Auburn in mind with each project the council takes on.

“The Auburn Beautification Council originally gave the Tidy Tiger Award out to members of the community who contributed to making Auburn a beautiful and clean place,” said ABC Co-President Julie McGowin.

The ABC still seeks to highlight the work done by individuals in Auburn with several awards. The council gives beautification awards to both community members and businesses based on the appearance of one’s yard or the aesthetics of a business’s storefront, particularly the landscaping and planting.

“ABC strives to raise awareness about beautification,” McGowin said. “One way ABC does this is by recognizing

KOB Clean Up Day 2021

those who have done so.”

McGowin said she believes that the program has remained prosperous since the ‘70s because people are passionate about it.

“This is just something the people are passionate about,” she said. “We’re just a group of people who are like-minded and want to see Auburn remain beautiful.”

The ABC always has some sort of project in the mix.

Each year, the group puts on a floral trail, in partnership with the city and the Tourism Bureau. The trail includes flowers, shrubs and trees that bloom around the city.

Two of the group’s gardens include the Rouse-Corley garden and the Nunn-Winston garden.

“The benches in these gardens are regularly used by visitors who enjoy the variety of blooming plants,” McGowin said.

There are gardens that the ABC has maintained for decades, namely two in Kiesel Park. They have planted installments at several cemeteries. They have done work at the Auburn Public Library. Their work is seen, yet unseen, all throughout Auburn.

The ABC also has plant sales throughout the year. The sale consists of seasonal plants and produce. They are used to highlight the contributions that local farmers and gardeners make, as well as raise money for the ABC to expand its outreach.

“Not everybody sees or knows that we do a lot of the stuff that we do, but the dedication from this group is unmatched,” McGowin said.

McGowin said she believes that between the ongoing projects of the ABC, coordination with multiple groups and the attention to public recognition, that people will continue to become aware of the work that they do and, hopefully, get involved.

The tasks that the ABC take on are all around Auburn, but likely go unnoticed. The hanging baskets that are all over downtown Auburn, some wildflowers that are planted in medians and the original wreaths that covered Auburn during the holidays were all contributed by the ABC.

The ABC also has an annual reception where it takes the time to honor those who have done upstanding beautification work and to thank those who have donated to its cause. This, along with many other of their events, shows the love that the ABC has for Auburn and those in it.

“We stay busy,” McGowin said.

The ABC’s work is an everyday task. There is always some way to make Auburn a more beautiful town, whether that is through planting flowers or picking up litter or decorating the streets of Auburn. The ABC does all these things and exponentially more through the work of its volunteers. And all that it accomplishes are done for the betterment of Auburn and in love for its community. To learn more, visit: www. auburnbeautification.com.

The ABC planting flowers in downtown Auburn

OPELIKA:

Making Opelika a beautiful place to live is one of the many passions of Tipi Miller, director of Keep Opelika Beautiful (KOB). Whether at Garden in the Park, heading the Azalea and Dogwood Trail or planting trees, the goal of the non-profit and its director is the same … beautification, litter prevention and recycling.

Miller has been the director of KOB for 12 years. The nonprofit was started in 1997 and Miller is only the second director of the organization, following Shirley Flora, founder.

“I love it because I can be as creative as I want with the programs,” she said. “I also like that we involve kindergartners to 80-year-olds. There is no limit to who we have work with us or volunteer.”

Miller said she grew up in Opelika and her dedication to community service comes from a vivid memory of her grandfather.

“I’ll never forget growing up, every Thursday afternoon my grandmother would bake a pecan pie, and every Friday morning my granddad would put a pie on the top of the trash can because it was trash day,” she said. “That is just sealed in my head, the community service part of it and just going that extra step. That’s resonated with me for so many years. He was just doing something to show appreciation for people and their hard work. I think that whole community atmosphere plays into why I love what I do.”

KOB is also serves as the Opelika Tree Commission for the city, which it took on eight years ago.

“It’s just another way we can beautify Opelika,” she said. “We just did a seven-gallon Oak Tree give away in Mill Village to anyone interested. We also planted a few in Shady Park.”

For the 34th year, Opelika has been named a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation in honor of its commitment to effective urban forest management. In 2021, more than 230 trees were planted by the city and KOB.

Miller said the biggest challenge the group faces is litter and educating people on the effects trash can have on the environment.

“Sometimes you feel like you’re chasing your tail picking up litter because you are not really solving the problem, you’re just putting a band-aid on it,” she said. “There’s a lot of good things about picking up litter, but if I can prevent it and be proactive on the front end, that’s even better.”

Recently Miller worked with local Brownie Scouts on a stormwater project, teaching lessons on litter and erosion.

“When that light bulb goes off in a child and they realize that, when I litter, that will run off into a creek and eventually that creek will go into a pond, then I will want to eat fish from that pond,” Miller said. “It’s neat to environmentally educate.”

Miller said sometimes people take it for granted that children are watching adults’ actions.

“When I talk to schools about litter, every single time I’ll

City Council Member Todd Rauch and former Council Member Robert Lofton at the KOB Clean Up Day 2021.

have three hands raised and it is, oh my dad litters, my dad threw something out the window on the way to school, and that is set in those kid’s minds,” Miller said. “I’m not judging the parents I’m just saying all of our actions influence someone else. Someone is always watching us. Whether it’s our children, or neighbor or someone driving down the street.”

Recycling across Opelika is also a responsibility of KOB.

“Right now, the city has about 1,400 curbside subscribers,” Miller said. “We have two recycling centers that are very busy. We’ve also given desk-side containers to all the teachers in Opelika City Schools. When I look back and see where we have come in twelve years, it’s absolutely amazing how much our city has progressed.”

While Slam Dunk the Junk, Azalea & Dogwood Trail and Garden in the Park are at the forefront of what KOB does to make Opelika beautiful, Miller said there’s a lot the community doesn’t see.

“People don’t realize what we do because we are not in front of people all the time. They may not see the new trees we planted on Geneva Street. But once they bloom in two years, and they’re larger and beautiful, then they’ll be a nice gateway into Opelika. So sometimes what we do is just in the background and people might not recognize it as KOB.”

Like her grandfather, Miller said she doesn’t want accolades for serving her community.

“There is so much Opelika has to offer and I love being a very, very, small piece of that to make Opelika a better place.”