by Shelley Dekker, Trinity Park Foundation President
After a successful fundraiser in 2021 and TPNA Home Tour in 2022, the Trinity Park Foundation (TPF), the neighborhood’s 501(c)(3) charitable entity, has been able to move forward with several neighborhood improvements. A few of these projects are complete. Most are in the works!
The largest project, which has been on our to-do list for some time, is the restoration of the granite steps leading into The Trinity Park along W. Trinity Ave. We have hired Sundial Landscaping to do the work, and they are waiting on two new granite steps to be cut before they proceed with the job. In partnership with TPNA, we received a $5,000 Duke Doing Good grant toward this work, for which we are incredibly appreciative!
We also hired Sundial to landscape the western end of the Trinity Ave. median. This has been a dramatic improvement, and we hope to raise more funds to hire Sundial to continue their work along the entire median. THANK YOU to neighbors Keith Poteat and Barry Howard who have offered to water and weed the landscaped portion of the median to keep it looking terrific! Thanks also to neighbors Duncan Beale for weeding the eastern half of the Trinity median; Julia Borbely-Brown and her grandchildren, Magnolia and Elias, for weeding in the Markham median and the Watts St. traffic circle; and Steve Falzarano, Marc Moskovitz, and Mike Forhez for taking care of the traffic circle at Dollar and Englewood. We are fortunate to have such caring neighbors who give so much of their time.
Other recently completed projects are the pruning of all the trees in the Park and treating the two ash trees for emerald ash borer. We have been treating these ash trees for many years now, and both mature trees continue to thrive and provide welcome shade along the sidewalks and in the park.
One of the projects in the works is an irrigation system for the park gardens. Members of the Blossom Garden Club have been manually taking care of this for many years, but many members are in their 70s and 80s, and dragging heavy hoses around the park during the heat of the summer is not as much fun as it used to be! An automated system will make the task of keeping the plants watered much easier.
We are also working with Duke Energy to replace the creosote utility pole light in the Park with a decorative fixture and LED lamp that is more energy efficient and in keeping with the historic character of the neighborhood.
TPF is funded by donations from neighbors and proceeds from the TPNA Home Tour. We would like to thank Debbie & James Dobbins, Laura & Robert Gutman, and Jeanette Stokes & Dwight Honeycutt for their tax-deductible donations this year. We invite you to support TPF’s work by donating online at trinityparkfoundation.org or by mailing a check to The Trinity Park Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 725, Durham, NC 27702. Your donations go directly to projects that improve our neighborhood.
Finally, 2023 marks 40 years of the Trinity Park Foundation’s ownership of The Trinity Park, and 2024 will mark 50 years of The Trinity Park functioning as a city park. We look forward to celebrating these milestones in fall 2023 and spring 2024! Stay tuned!
