Over the last nine months more than 30 volunteers have transformed mine-scarred land, an abandoned bridge abutment and an invasive weedy hillside into an industrial art project honoring the largest anthracite mining disaster in Avondale in Northeastern Pa.

And on September 17, the volunteers will celebrate the successful project with a Community Picnic and Cook-out from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Part of the project includes a community flower garden that incorporates a stormwater management practice using a rain barrel to recycle water for the plants. The garden project just received a $250 grant from Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful to support garden development.

Throughout the summer, volunteers worked 700 hours and gathered more than $10,000 of donated materials and time for the perennial garden and industrial art project which is dedicated to the 110 victims of the 1869 Avondale mine fire.

During construction, Robert Hughes, Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation and a resident of Avondale Hill, secured a donation of and installed a 100-foot long silt fence to prevent dirt from eroding off the hillside with Mike Hewitt, a co-worker from Plymouth.

A small grant from the Department of Environmental Protection and the Pennsylvania Resources Council, plus some donations of flowers from local nurseries, helped to populate the garden.

Valerie Taylor, EPCAMR Office of Surface Mining VISTA, from the Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team, coordinated all of the volunteer work days and her enthusiasm for the project spread through many of the volunteers throughout the course of the project.

At the base of the abutment, Heather Elias planted a wildly colorful garden. Dawson and Hayley Hughes scrubbed the graffiti off of the boulders and the abutment to bring back the rock’s true colors. Tom and Mike Loke built the surrounding rock wall and cut the weeds and invasive plants out of the hillside to make way for the garden.

Ed and Diane, a couple that lives directly across the street from the project, watered the garden during its initial landscaping to keep it alive, and have assisted with planting the garden and pulling weeds as well.

Karen Gabriel, a new homeowner on Avondale Hill, shoveled dirt to create the flower bed during the heat of the Summer. Many other silent volunteers and businesses have contributed quietly with their contributions and work ethic to the project and were just glad to help in any way possible.

Volunteers arranged long-term garden care with the addition of a rain barrel donated by the Luzerne Conservation District. From the roof of the kiosk housing a public community bulletin board, built by Rick Shields and his grandson, Patrick Shields, water collects and will nourish the garden during dry times. A seep hose distributes the water throughout the planted area.

For more information, please contact the EPCAMR office at 570-674-7993 or send email to Robert Hughes at: rhughes@epcamr.org .

9/15/2006