Lark Cowart of St. Charles and his daughter Meredith Peterson, 8, decided to get their hands dirty Saturday morning at a planting project not far from the city’s Fox River.
They were part of an army of volunteers led by the River Corridor Foundation of St. Charles in a mission known as Project Daffodil — a mass bulb planting effort — that took place at the entrance to Mt. St. Mary Park in St. Charles.
“This is the first time we’ve done this,” Cowart said. “They gave us specific planting instructions on which direction to plant the bulbs, how deep and how long for them to actually grow in the spring.”
At 9 a.m. Saturday, volunteers gathered at the south end of the park, where a total of 5,000 mixed daffodil bulbs were to be planted.
According to John Rabchuk, president of the River Corridor Foundation, the daffodil project was started “during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the initial intention of finding an activity that people could do outside that would bring smiles to the community in the spring.”
To date, a total of 25,000 bulbs have been planted along with 150 Virginia bluebells in the park, event organizers said.
Rabchuk said the annual planting event is popular with volunteers.
“It always depends on the weather and I think we have about 70 or 80 volunteers this year, and we’ve even reached 150,” he said. “People keep coming because they really wanted to contribute and this is the kind of project that’s going to last forever. There will be these light bulbs in 50 years and there’s not a lot of opportunity for something like this.”
Bulbs were donated throughout the project by the Heinz Brothers Garden Center in St. Charles. Director Christa Bormann of St. Charles said the center “wants to support our community because our community helps support us.”
“We appreciate what the River Corridor Foundation is doing to help beautify our parks and lands,” she said. “I don’t know if we thought there would be 30,000 bulbs, but the more, the merrier.”
Heinz owner Jay Shrock was in attendance Saturday and confirmed the scale of the project was something he enjoyed experiencing.
“It’s good to give back to the community and I’m not surprised by the volunteers. It’s good to help support the community and beautify the city of St. Charles,” he said. “It’s rewarding to have this lasting legacy of seeing the bulbs grow year after year and seeing new life.”
Cowart’s daughter, Meredith, said she was all for the plan, admitting that when her mother woke her up and told her where they were going, she let out a “Yeah!”
“When mom told me it was time to go planting, I got out of bed,” she said.
Tim Stopka of St. Charles was a first-time planter at Saturday’s event and said he had a vested interest in the project “because I live just two blocks down the street.”
“My great-grandparents’ house is right across the street, so we’re beautifying the neighborhood 100 percent,” he said. “We’re just coming this way. I’m surprised how big it’s gotten, but you can see it every year. The intrigue grows and continues to expand.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
