City of Bonney Lake

City of Bonney Lake

Beautify Bonney Lake

Project Statement

Beautify Bonney Lake is an annual event where Bonney Lake citizens, businesses, city employees, and others dedicate one day to help ‘beautify’ areas throughout the city. The time and money given to this event shows a community with a strong hometown spirit and the commitment to keep it that way.

Project Summary

Beautify Bonney Lake (BBL) is an annual event held within the City of Bonney Lake that exhibits a strong hometown spirit within the Bonney Lake community. Located on the fringe of the Seattle-Tacoma suburban area, Bonney Lake has a population of nearly 16,000. Sitting atop the Bonney Lake-Buckley plateau, its location is the main factor contributing to the astounding growth. The area boasts amazing views of—and proximity to—Mt. Rainier, the Sumner/Orting and Puyallup River Valleys, Tacoma and the Puget Sound, and Lake Tapps, as well as housing that is more affordable when compared to other areas around the Puget Sound.

The tremendous growth has local community services fighting to keep up. The maintenance of public areas—parks, gateways, street right-of-ways, and trails—has become an increasing challenge. Many of these areas have become increasingly more worn, tattered, and cluttered with debris due to the increased usage. Another effect of growth is that some citizens in the community have sensed a community growing apart as new faces and businesses arrive. Confronted with these challenges, the City of Bonney Lake and its citizens decided to take action.

In 2004, the idea of an annual event to beautify the city was presented to the Bonney Lake City Council and the Chamber of Commerce by the local members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as a way for churches and community volunteer organizations to work with the city and local businesses to improve the visual appeal of the city. The idea aligned perfectly with the vision of the city and its businesses.

A leadership committee was formed to head up the BBL event comprised of a diverse group of civic, business, and other community leaders, including the city’s community services director. The mission of BBL is “to enhance the beauty of the city, by providing a vehicle to easily capture the goodwill of the citizens via their willingness to create permanent and positive improvements to the city.”

BBL dedicates one day each year to beautify the community’s city property, public areas, as well as encourage private property owners to do the same. BBL solicits volunteers and sponsors to provide equipment, materials, and supplies to undertake various projects designed to enhance the city’s natural beauty and improve its quality of life.

Volunteers

The BBL annual event allows any individual, group, or business to participate. The first BBL event in 2004 saw nearly 200 volunteers participate in cleaning up the roadside of the city’s main thoroughfare and largest city park. Most of these volunteers were made up of local church groups, City staff, City council members, and sponsoring businesses.

For the 2005 BBL event, volunteer participation increased to over 300 as local high school students and football players joined in the action of landscaping the city’s west gateway area and other trails. In 2006, BBL had a record turnout of 600 volunteers! Projects for that year’s event included additional landscaping of the city’s west gateway area, cleaning up a number of city intersection right-of-ways, cleaning areas surrounding Lake Bonney, and improving a city trail near the elementary school. In 2007, 450 volunteers spruced up city parks, cleaned up the senior center landscaping, and even helped clean up the yards of needy homeowners.

All volunteers are provided free T-shirts with the BBL logo design on the front and a list of sponsors on the back. The purpose of the T-shirt is to promote unity among volunteers, create an identity for the event, and provide promotional opportunities for sponsoring businesses. Volunteers also receive a free lunch.

Sponsors

BBL also solicits local businesses, groups, and individuals to donate and sponsor the event. The first BBL event received nearly $4,000 in donations—mostly all from local businesses. 2005’s BBL event brought in an estimated $7,000, with the Target Corporation acting as a main corporate sponsor. The 2006 and 2007 BBL event received nearly $10,000 in business donations and corporate sponsorships.

Currently there are 54 sponsors of BBL. Included in these sponsors are Wal-mart, Waterscapes Northwest, Ray and Mary Miller, Pacific Water Gardens, Harborstone Credit Union, Investco, Columbia Bank, SEFNCO Inc., Cascadia, Quadrant Homes, Aquascapes.com, Priced Right Print & Sign, McLendon Hardware, Heritage Bank, Dominos Pizza, Home Depot, Godfather’s Pizza, and Albertsons to name a few. Sponsors are listed on the BBL website (www.beautifybonneylake.org) and on the voluteer’s free T-shirt previously mentioned.

Benefits

In 2007, BBL became an official 501-C3 non-profit organization for the purposes of encouraging future donations and community volunteerism. The Bonney Lake Chamber of Commerce comprises the voting members of the organization. The city has an employee on the BLL board of directors and employees that work on making the event successful. Since the inception of the BBL event, the City of Bonney Lake and its tax payers have saved roughly $67,000 in labor costs and materials.

Outside of the community, BBL has been recognized for its contributions to the Bonney Lake community and beyond. The event was awarded a Bronze prize by the Washington Festivals and Events Association and was a finalist for the National League of Cities Awards for Municipal Excellence.

BBL hopes to continue promoting and assisting in city beautification projects such as tree and shrub plantings, the spreading topsoil and bark, litter clean-up, painting, educating the public, and assisting the government in beautifying and maintaining community’s public spaces.

The community beautification and the growing public support for the BBL event tells a story of a city and a community that is filled with strong “hometown” spirit, as well as a city and community committed to maintaining spirit.

Contact

Joel Thompson

Executive Assistant

253 - 447-3102