It only takes a handful of people to make lasting change. What makes lasting change easier is when it is accomplished by a group. This year, the Black Mountain Beautification Committee (BMBC) celebrates 25 years as a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring the natural beauty of the surrounding mountains, while seeking to reflect that beauty on the streets and in the lives of its citizens.
The town has been given numerous awards and acknowledgments over the years from various publications large and small. Black Mountain gets recognition thanks in part to the engagement and efforts of the all-volunteer Black Mountain Beautification Committee which has worked tirelessly to transform and maintain the downtown landscape.
In 1997, Alderman Mary Leonard White talked with the Economic Development Committee of Black Mountain about “sprucing up” the town. White met with Yolanda Smith (Black Mountain Women’s Club), Harriet Styles and Maggie Horton (Black Mountain Garden Club) and these groups, along with Willie Headley and Ginger York, worked together to form the Black Mountain Beautification Committee in January 2000. They worked to develop goals for the committee and recruit members to help with their mission of improving the aesthetics of the community. New members were intrigued with the committee’s earthy motto: “If you like to dig, weed, pick-up trash and sweat, then you are our kind of folks and will be welcome to join this committee.”
Past Chair and current historian Martha Long notes that the original mission and goals of the committee have changed very little over the years. The work of the committee focuses on four primary goals – planting and maintaining 29 public garden sites, which includes the 3 main gateway gardens into town, and 51 container gardens around Black Mountain. They also maintain the beautiful public garden and gathering space, Town Square, and take on special projects when needed.
Though the membership has consistently grown to now 130 members, from the beginning the BMBC has been a vibrant, vital organization committed to its mission to keep Black Mountain beautiful. Whatever the project, all the work has been done with a sense of fun and spirit of community that spills out onto the streets. Every corner of town, each flower box and green space have been lovingly improved and tended to by committee members who seek no praise or payment.
Why do members of the BMBC do what they do? Why, for the last 25 years, pour hundreds of hours into laborious work in challenging conditions? The recollections of a handful of devoted BMBC members, all who have been honored within the committee for their devotion and excellence, exude the positive spirit and joy this work brings.
Suzanne Money, member since 2009, remembers a time when there were so few members that she along with Willie Headley and Mary Leonard White enlisted the help of the Women’s Correctional Facility to grow plants from seed that were later planted in hay racks or window boxes through town. The idea of hay racks was introduced by member Betty Becker in 2008. Money believes there were long lasting positive effects for all involved.
That project evolved into the Consistent Look Committee that envisioned the planter boxes spearheaded by Joyce Black-Woerz, member since 2005. Black-Woerz is an artist who
brings that sensibility to all her BMBC efforts (painting the mural on The Hill’s well house, the mural on the Cherry Street public restrooms, yearly Beautification Garden sale image and t-shirt design, and the four seasons of the Willie Headley garden note cards on sale throughout town) and the town is more beautiful as a result. Money and Black-Woerz presided over the committee during the design of the gardens in Town Square and watched membership double.
Joyce Ackerman has been active in the organization since 2013. She has handled a wide variety of tasks and spearheaded multiple projects including the development of the Seed Money Award. The Seed Money Award was created as a way to give back to the community and because membership was low (around 12 members regularly attended monthly meetings), BMBC wanted to get the community more engaged in its mission. At the time the Seed Money budget was $250 and there were three applicants, now the budget is $5,000 and six to eight applicants are not unusual.
Why does Ackerman stay involved? “BMBC is such an important organization in our community. It provides a way to bring a variety of people together, each with different abilities. AND we have fun,” says Ackerman.”I can’t imagine how our town would look without our immensely creative volunteers.”
LIbba Fairleigh, member since 2010, has assumed a variety of leadership positions and has been an extraordinary contributor to the committee over the years. She noticed that other small towns took decorating seriously. “What makes me smile the most is that in 2011, I proposed to the Beautification Committee that we bring holiday cheer for Halloween and the winter season. Look where we are today!”
Kate Ramsey, member since 2015, echoes the sentiments of so many who are part of the wonderful work of BMBC. “I’d only been in town a couple of weeks when Libba (Fairleigh) invited me to a meeting, and from the beginning I felt welcome and included. There was laughter and joking as well as discussion about the work. People were enthusiastic about how to make the town beautiful, and over the years that has continued to be the case. We jump in when there’s a need; we help each other. It’s a great group.”
The original members’ passion helped develop The Hill behind the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, created the Garden Sale to raise funds, and initiated partnerships with other organizations and businesses. Grants were applied for and received to create a master plan that has been followed to establish gardens and pathways around town. Traditions such as decorating the town, picking up trash and litter and offering incentives to merchants were established by this small group of original members.
As membership has grown and a new generation of devotees steps up into leadership positions, members who joined years ago continue to contribute in meaningful ways. Mary Leonard White still shows up to events occasionally and consults when asked.
The current membership is just as engaged and committed to BMBC’s mission as the forward thinking civic-minded women and men who started the organization, enthusiastically working together to create lasting change. New members receive a document that lists all of the accomplishments of the BMBC over the years that stretches to six single spaced pages. But really, all one needs to do is walk or drive through the town to see the many lovely touches and hundreds of details created in the last 25 years.
To learn more about the Black Mountain Beautification Committee go to blackmountainbeautification.org. The organization welcomes new members and donations throughout the year.
