The meeting, titled "Hydrangea Day" on June 25, 2024, celebrated the ongoing success and future plans of the Hydrangea Project within the Fall River Waterfront Cultural District. The project, initiated five years prior by Westport resident Dave Del Lima and the Creative Arts Network, has led to the planting of nearly 600 hydrangeas, over 100 lavender plants, and dozens of other flowers across the city, including 86 new hydrangeas at DCR where a unique Israeli watering system was installed. Mayor Paul Kougan issued a proclamation declaring June 25, 2024, as Hydrangea Day, acknowledging the project's beautification efforts, its connection to Fall River's Azorean heritage, and its contribution to economic development. Speakers, including Sandy (from the Cultural District), Pete Daly (People Incorporated), and Dave Del Lima, highlighted the collaborative partnerships with organizations like the City of Fall River, Battleship Cove, MassDOT, Mass Coastal Rail, DCR, and Fall River Municipal Credit Union. They also discussed the project's expansion into new initiatives, such as developing a brochure, placing educational signs, organizing planting projects with Girl Scouts, and implementing volunteer and 'adopt-a-spot' programs. Dave Del Lima detailed the specific types of hydrangeas planted, particularly the low-maintenance paniculas, and expressed confidence in the watering system ensuring their longevity. Jim, the DCR supervisor for Fall River Heritage State Park, thanked the project organizers and invited the public to enjoy the park's summer activities.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Watch the video to verify.
Council
Public / Other
well good morning everyone welcome to the for River her for River Waterfront Cultural District first I want to thank uh May Coogan uh to the Waterfront District uh this is the 50th such District in the Commonwealth and I want to thank him for his support of the hydranga project uh in the cultural District the high hydranga project was started 5 years ago through an initiative of Westport resident Dave Del
0:25Lima uh Dave came to Creative Arts Network with this project in 200 18 after shopping it around uh and approaching other some other sponsors uh since the beginning we've H we have formed multiple Partnerships and relationships with groups and organizations throughout the city including city of for River Battleship Cove Mass DOT Mass Coastal rail DCR where we are here today Department of
0:51Conservation and Recreation for of the Municipal Credit Union and many others over the past several years this one Creative Arts Network project has planted close to 600 hydranges over 100 lavender plants dozens of flowers and Lin throughout the Cultural District including including cement erins at the gates of the city in fact right behind me we've just uh in the last couple of months planted 86 hydranges here at
1:20DCR as you all know plants and especially hydranges require continuing watering to address that need we installed a unique watering system here at DC that's one of the few in the uh in the area this singular Camp project is transforming the downtown in Waterfront and is evidence of how a small group of dedicated individuals with minimum resources can affect real change in the community all we're asking as is that
1:47the mayor continue his support by making sure that the city areas are wed and maintained on a regular schedule in the area including the gates of the city both the cement and black enss Route 79 connected City Hall RS Old Second Street RS Third Street ears and the bit Street by supporting this partnership with Creative Arts Network it continues to advance our core mission of supporting
2:12Arts culture and tourism and improving economic development in our city as the last front Frontier in the city we all know that the futureal for River lies right here in the Waterfront as I've said so often so goes the Waterfront so goes the city of for River it's my pleasure to introduce the mayor of the city of PA River Paul kougan I didn't call you Mike this year either been called
2:41worse first of all I want to say how great this project looks down here and here come some hydranges right now across the bridge so it's really special to see the work that's G on with this project across the city and it's really added some nice color and A Touch of Beauty to a city that's that uh is always looking for things to improve the quality of life for everyone to that end
3:04I have a proclamation that we're going to read today um and it's from the city of Fall River whereas while hydranges aren't native to the azors historians believe the plant arrived in the US courtesy of immigrants from the azors in the mid 1900s whereas one of the distinct attributes of Fall River is its long history of aoran culture and our strong ties to Portugal and whereas a group of volunteers met to start the
3:32conversation of a hydrangea beautification program in the city of Fall River whereas much work has been done with State stakeholders like Heritage businesses organizations neighborhood groups and additions to identifying locations for plantings and whereas the goal to start is to plant in various areas throughout the Waterfront and downtown Fall River eventually making its way through many of our
3:58neighborhoods whereas there these areas are particularly important now that the Massachusetts cultural Council voted to approve the Commonwealth's 50 designated 50 designated Cultural District on the waterfront and Fall River and whereas a clean attractive city is an asset to Economic Development it proves the quality of life and enhances the experience for our visitors I therefore
4:20Paul Coogan Mayor of the city of Fall River to hereby Proclaim June 25 2024 as hyena day congratulations thank you I believe that uh that concludes uh this year's hanger presentation project you have Sandra right now I just have a few words to say first of all I want to thank the mayor uh Paul Coogan uh for his continued support of the Hy Ranger day and the Waterfront Cultural District uh I'd also
5:00like to thank Pete Daly from people incorporating David L Lima uh I would have to say that these are our four main Partners in this at the beginning but like our tourism initiative and marketing efforts for the Waterfront cultural districts it's nice to see that things are starting to catch on I'm happy to say that this program has inspired other groups and individuals to beautify other areas throughout the city
5:24with flowers and Planters through our marketing efforts the Waterfront Cultural District has seen an increase of an activity but in addition to the planting efforts we are expanding into other projects such as developing a brochure that will be available online and throughout the areas of the city highlighting the hydrangea project um we have it in rough draft form now but this
5:48brochure will be available there will be signs placed at various locations identifying the species for people to come by and learn there's a sample which will be a little bit different than in that uh we'll be working with the girl Girl Scouts in April and August here at DCR on a planting project as part of their badge ceremony and we will be implementing a volunteer program and a
6:12adopter spot program uh to learn more about it you can go to um my email or call or text um but again I I do want to thank you Mr Mayor for your support of this project and I want to support you uh your support of the Waterfront Cultural District we really appreciate app it but what I'd like to do is have Pete come up and say a few words um
6:33seeing that he was our first our first partner sponsor with this program and Pete your sign will be going up around the downtown area fantastic thank you Sandy uh Peter Dy from People Incorporated so Sandy thanked People Incorporated and of course we're we're happy to support the project both financially and with the um with the Manpower um we do have people in the programs who are literally
7:03getting their hands dirty and helping with the hydrangea project and we've done it for over 5 years now um so Sandy thank People Incorporated but we'd also like to thank Sandy and Dave Dennis and Dave L Lima for all the work that they've put into this project um I especially like to give a special shout out to Dave LMA because David has under the raadar uh helped to beautify one of
7:25people incorporated's homes in in the region we have several homes throughout the region there happens to be one that's uh approximately close to where Dave lives and he's he's really helped out the residents by uh beautifying it with hydranges and filtration and water and everything that goes along with what a house should look like uh and then some so David leim has done exceptional work
7:48for for the city uh but also People Incorporated um so so thank you uh you know the project has come a long way because of the Creative Arts Network um and People Incorporated has sponsored uh the Creative Arts Network and several initiatives but this is probably the most um standout and long lasting that we've had and we're we're happy to do that and on a on a closing note I happen
8:10to have a friend who's in the azors today and he took a video that he put on Facebook driving on what looks like a highway in the azors but it is just covered with hydranges and it's like driving through a wall of of pink and blues and that's the vision that Sandy and David and David have had for Fall River and and and we're getting there you know it really does link us with our
8:33um azorian neighbors figuratively um but it's really good to see things like this come together so we're happy to be a part of it and we thank you I just want to say Pete was one of the Diggers on the uh the day we put in the 86 Hy Rangers here so Pete played a big part of that so I appreciate it I I didn't wear this white shirt that day but thank
8:54you Dave how why we get a hyd ranger guy here just say a couple of words about what we've done here so David L from Westport um it's delightful to be here after three or four or five years of trying to take an idea and make it reality we know how hard for anyone who has an idea how difficult it is to make an idea real um and this project started
9:21out to connect the city with its azorian background and planting a specific kind of uh hydrange called the profer which grows um new growth on old wood that's very important to remember new growth on old wood and it was more work and more difficult but the reward was that we connected with our sister city in the azors and we learned the ins and outs of the diff difficulty of growing hydranges
9:49on a large scale um here it is four or five years later and you can see that there are high hydranges of all kinds in many places I think along um we're independent from and in concert with other efforts in this city to give people hope whether it's through ART whether it's through murals whether it's through plantings or putting lavender on all on the middle of uh Main Street whatever it is that gives people an idea
10:19that something positive is going on is to everyone's benefit and that's sort of what motivated me to come to this city that I sort of adopted now what is behind me is um something very different this is this is a panicula this is not a macro file this is not a blue hranger this is what what we'll call P um this is a picula not a macril and what
10:44picadas do is they grow on new growth on new wood that's very different from New Growth on old wood which requires a different kind of calculus so this is no maintenance I have these at my house this is unbelievable plant it starts out white it's going to turn pink and then it's going to turn red there's hardly any plant that you know that has three colors in one season and they're and
11:10they're going to grow as my friend Mal in at Heritage says they're fierce fierce Growers you prune them back they go back up so in a several years you're going to be standing over there and you're going to see this sea of red at some point in time and I think I don't know if there's another place in South Coast it has this many hydranges in one place so this this is going to be the
11:34first we hope of other attractions for people to come to the city and see things that they don't normally see in other places now why this is going to work we think is because there is a ring around each one of these hydranges there's 86 hydranges we put a ring it's an Israeli system nrm that has calibrated filters every 12 in and it's hooked up to a a faucet over there in a
11:59timer and every day at 6:00 in the morning we hope with the hope of the keep our fingers crossed with the state that every morning at 6:00 1 hour of watering very low watering I know it works I have them in my house I'm confident we will see these year after year after year so I I'm very I'm excited about it because this is another iteration of where we're going
12:26this right here and I think people are going to come to this park at some point and they're going to be blown away by how beautiful this is going to look that that's my hope I want to thank everybody for tolerating my passion and interest in trying to make this place a more beautiful place cuz I love this city thank you thank you David and just finally I just want to
12:48thank the uh staff here at Heritage State Park who are absolutely outstanding in their support you see Mo uh Jim and the rest of the staff here at heris State Park uh very very very very good partners uh and very big supporters of this project and many others so with that if there's nobody else uh Jim do you want to say a couple words y yep on behalf of DCR Department of Conservation and Recreation and the
13:15forever Heritage State Park uh bolac supervisor we just want to thank the Waterfront Cultural District thank you this is going to change the park for years to come we really appreciate it we appreciate all the support we get from them and and the Creative Arts Network and I invite everybody to come back to the park to enjoy the park this summer lots of activities fireworks next week
13:37uh come back come back to Fall River Heritage State Park and just enjoy the summer with us so thank you again Sandy Dave and and and crew okay thank you thank you thank you very much I think that will conclude the program I appreciate the media for being here again uh May KGAN for coming uh have a great day