Day 172: June 21, 2018

It takes 45,000 pounds of engineered wood fiber surfacing to cover both sides of Overton Bark. The surfacing comes off the truck and into a large pile outside the fence, where it waits for an enthusiastic group of volunteers to transport it into a soft carpet for the dogs who use Overton Bark as their playground.

Last month, those volunteers came from Memphis Dream Center and The Life Church, and they tackled all 45,000 pounds in two hours! We watched this hard-working group of young people create teams and assign tasks, becoming more efficient as they worked despite climbing temperatures. Volunteers brought each other water, coned off lanes for wheelbarrows that were coming and going, and cleaned out sections of the park where dog waste bags hadn’t been used. And they did it all while singing and enjoying each other’s company.

The Conservancy relies on community generosity to perform large tasks like this, which would take an entire workweek if left up to our small staff. With 100 eager volunteers, refreshing Overton Bark was all in a morning’s work.

We’d like to thank the team from Memphis Dream Center and The Life Church for dedicating their time and energy, Memphis City Beautiful for the tools, Orion Federal Credit Union for their donation toward the mulch campaign, Hollywood Feed for their continued support of the dog park, and the dozens of donors who helped us purchase this new surfacing. 

We condensed the two-hour project into a one-minute video. Click here to watch the mulch pile disappear!

This post is part of a new series that will highlight an interesting, inspiring, or important day in the life of Overton Park. Look for them near the end of each month.