Mt. Vernon feels the love

The community of Mt. Vernon showed its appreciation for the city last Friday and Saturday, with a two-day celebration called Love Mt. Vernon Day. 

As part of the event, city organizations, officials and citizens put a little elbow grease into the areas of the city that needed it most. 

The community took time to rally around an army recon veteran on Hickory Street whose yard had fallen into disrepair. Glenn Dulaney a resident of Mt. Vernon since 1977, had seen his yard become overgrown, a problem that planning and zoning director, Trent Thompson, local citizens and veterans and local business owner, Austin Gurney,  set out to fix. 

“We’re just trying to give back,” said Thompson. 

Gurney donated equipment from his business to take care of the problem, removing debris from the property and leaving it spotless. 

“I’m so thankful, all of the sudden, the veterans came up and said, we’re going to help you,” said Dulaney. 

Citizens also organized clean up and restoration projects elsewhere in the city. 

Living Hope, a recovery center In Mt. Vernon, lent a hand to help repair the community garden, weeding and mowing the area to assist the usual gardener Marsha Jones, who was also in attendance. 

The newly reformed Mt. Vernon Community Betterment Committee also lent a hand on Love Mt. Vernon Day. Pam Dudley, president of the organization, was out with others repainting picnic tables in the square, making them Mt’neer green. Various other projects were also completed in the city.

After two days of work, the city is now in a better state than volunteers found it, but there is always room for improvement as this was only the first time Mt. Vernon hosted such an event. In a statement on Facebook, the Mt. Vernon Area Chamber of Commerce shared that next year could be even better. 

“We love Mt. Vernon every day, but these service days are about lending hands to our neighbors and taking pride in our community. Thank you to EVERYONE who was a part of this initiative. Now that we have one under our belt, we’ll be better prepared and more organized for next year!”