New life comes to Park Street Common

EXETER — Something magic happened at Park Street Common this week and it’s all because of some great people and some wonderful yellow trucks.

With the lovely weather finally here it’s hard to even recall those mountains of snow, many of which were piled at the Common. Even while the snow was piled high some terrific people at both the Department of Public Workds and Parks and Recreation listened to a need for some new trees to replace several lost recently.

Jay Perkins of the DPW, who we discover is a lover of trees and imminently knowledgeable about them, met with the county forester, Fred Borman, and Mike Favreau of the Recreation Department to see what we could do. Well it took off like a shot.

Unitil’s arborist, Sara Sankowich, also added her input to the mix and with some information shared at the Conservation Commission, and the beginning of a tree program was up and running.

But let’s go back to those yellow trucks and the folks behind the wheels of them all. When decisions were made, they were the ones to go pick up trees, show up with heavy machines to dig holes, fill trucks with compost and tools and just plain get to work, like they do every day for a million tasks that we might sometimes take for granted.

This job I am guessing was a lot more fun than filling potholes. They handled those trees lovingly, watered them and set up some of the new green water bags. We learned about the Water Buffalo truck that will be instrumental in keeping the new trees watered and ensuring they are successful.

There are now four new trees at Park Street Common and it won’t be long before they start to bring a little shade and will give some terrific color in the fall. Come see!

So when you see the yellow trucks in your neighborhood planting a tree, filling a pot hole or plowing that snow, say hi, wave but most importantly, say thanks!