Community rallies to restore Knight Park

Two years ago, the bridge in the center of Knight Park was in shambles.

"It wasn't an attractive spot," Borough Commissioner Joan Leonard said. "But so many brides come to get their picture taken there, something had to be done. The bridge was a way to have a peaceful, beautiful place to attract crowds and go to walk."

Fed up with the weeds and deteriorating bridge, Leonard decided it was time to make some changes. Her idea: The community should come together to fix up the bridge and put in gardens around it. Collingswood residents responded.

The hard work has led to a Community Greening Award from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the nonprofit agency that produces the Philadelphia International Flower Show. The society's annual award recognizes groups and individuals that create and maintain green spaces that enhance their communities.

The awards go to places all over Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Knight Park was one of 67 projects to win in October.

But before the project could even start, Leonard had to get people on board. And they came in droves when she presented the idea in 2005.

"I get involved a lot in the town," said Jay Latch of Latch Bros. Landscaping, who charged the town for the cost of materials but worked free to landscape the bridge. "I like to stay involved. I played baseball in the park by the bridge when I was a kid, so the park was real important to me. It's a great park."

Once the wooden part of the bridge had been rebuilt by Chuck Hartung, a local builder - again, with only the cost of materials included, the labor free - and painted bright red by volunteers, Latch added cement and boulders under and around the bridge to divert runoff.

Then it was time to design the four individual gardens that surround the bridge. Five Rutgers Master Gardeners, including Collingswood native Emilia Carolfi, stepped in. They submitted a design, which was accepted. Now, crepe myrtle, purple cone flower, Siberian iris, various small grasses, shrub roses, and more surround the bridge.

Civic groups held fund-raisers for the $5,000 bridge and $5,000 embankment renovations, with the Proud Neighbors of Collingswood leading the way. There was no cost to the town.

"We have a garden that people use every single day," Carolfi said of why she believed the park and bridge won the Community Greening Award. "Usually, gardens are fenced off, but ours you're encouraged to walk right through."

Other improvements around Knight Park also contributed to the recognition. The land next to the bridge that used to flood all the time has been raised so that it is now a peaceful peninsula leading to the bridge from the surrounding sports fields, and 150 new trees have been planted.

The bridge is done, but other projects around Knight Park are still to come, including the renovation of the gazebo near the bridge - a popular spot for birthday parties.

Every person involved with the project, from Latch to Carolfi and Robert Hastings, tree official of the Collingswood Department of Public Works, agreed on one thing:

"Commissioner Leonard was the reason" for the renovations, as Hastings said. "She really saw a problem there, and she brought everyone together."

Leonard says she is happy Collingswood residents are enjoying the changes.

"I see brides coming to the bridge after the renovation, and I think, 'Now, that's a picture.' "