The gazebo in Porterdale will be getting a cleaning and light makeover next month by community volunteers.

Local youth in the Porterdale Explorers post and volunteers with the Community Assistance Relief Effort group plan to pressure wash and paint the gazebo, between Elm and Broad streets, next month. Porterdale Police Sgt. Jason Cripps, who supervises the Explorers post, said the cadets came up with the project on their own.

"What they want to do is a community project," Cripps said. "They made a decision to do something once a month in the community, whether for the city or for elderly people in city."

Linda Finger, who founded C.A.R.E., suggested the gazebo as a project when the cadets were brainstorming for ideas. She said C.A.R.E. will supply donated paint, and volunteers from the group will help with the work.
The Explorers and C.A.R.E. will pressure wash the gazebo on Saturday, March 10, and do the painting the following Saturday. Other members of the community who want to participate are welcome.

Then-City Councilor Arline Chapman raised money to renovate the gazebo in mid-2008, and the work was finished by the end of the summer. Other councilors, including Mike Harper and Kay Piper, donated their services or arranged for other donated services.