A Freeport Area High School senior is transforming a vacant lot in Freeport into a community garden.
Riley Farneth, 17, of Buffalo Township has been working on her Freeport Grows Community Garden project since last summer to earn her Girl Scout Gold Award.
The lot, near the corner of Fifth Street and Mulberry Way, has been vacant since 2003, when fire destroyed a three-story building there.
“When I first started, it was all grass and there were a lot of bricks,” Farneth said. “Roenigk (Excavating) donated a whole day to level it out and cover it with dirt.”
She said her fellow Girl Scouts and the Freeport Area High School Key Club were a big help with planting grass and laying pavers for a stage area.
She planted tulips that bloomed this spring and will be working with local businesses on landscaping ideas and what perennials to plant.
The stage idea came out of conversations she had with the Freeport Renaissance Association and others in the community about what they would like to have there.
“There are some business people who are musicians, and they hold events there,” said Mary Bowlin, past president of the Freeport Renaissance Association who continues to work with Farneth on her project.
Farneth plans to put a pergola above the stage area.
The FRA works to improve the community in various ways, like business- and home-façade upgrades and other enhancements that preserve the community's history with an eye toward the future.
“We have always wanted to have a community garden in the downtown area,” Bowlin said. “I'm excited and glad she took it on as her project.”
Farneth said she wanted to do a community garden for Girl Scouts because her friend's Gold Award garden project in Harrison was such a success.
Farneth plans to plant vegetable plots and donate the harvest to the local food bank. For the future, she plans to get community members to plant and care for the vegetable gardens. They'll be able to keep half of what they grow and donate the rest to the food bank, she said.
The lot is owned by retired businessman John Shoop, who owned the former J.H. Shoop & Sons clothing store on Fifth Street.
Shoop was happy to oblige when Farneth and the Freeport Renaissance Association approached him about using it as a garden.
“I was in business for years in Freeport and the town was awfully good to me,” Shoop said. “I want to repay them some way.”
Farneth said she's hoping to be done with the garden by the end of summer.
The Freeport Renaissance Association will provide long-term care for the garden and lot.
Jodi Weigand is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-226-4702 or jweigand@tribweb.com.
