GREEN STREET CHALLENGE COMES TO U.S. Conference Session Leads to Member Participation in First Time U.S. Event

John Coombs, Sr., TPI Board of Trustees member was impressed with the “Come Alive Outside” presentation at the February Conference (see page 42 Turf News May/ June 2017). At the end of the session, Coombs had a conversation with the presenter, Andy Paluch. He told Paluch that he was very interested in the program and would like to get involved. Tat led to Coombs name being passed along to Zech Strauser at Strauser Nature’s Helpers, a landscape and snow removal company in East Stroudsburg, PA. Te Strauser group was planning a Green Street Challenge for Stroudsburg. Tis was the first Come Alive Outside project to be held in the U.S. and they needed sod for the project. Even though the project was over two and one-half hours away and outside the market that Coombs serves, Coombs agreed to do whatever he could. Coombs says, “I knew that the Green Street Challenge event would be good for the entire industry.”

The Project Te Green Street Challenge project involved turning a street into a grassy playground. Strauser and his crew worked with the City of Stroudsburg, PA. Tey selected a block-long stretch of Monroe Street. It is one of the main streets stretching alongside the Town Square. It is also adjacent to the location of a popular Saturday morning Farmers Market. Te plan was to provide a grassy play area for children of all ages to enjoy for a day. Te sod needed to be delivered by 5 a.m. so work could begin before sunrise and the laying was completed by 7 a.m. with the natural grass covered street ready for play by the 8 o’clock Farmers Market opening. Te event was originally scheduled for May 6, but due to the forecast of inclement weather for that date, it was postponed to May 13. Te same forecast was then made for that weekend so the event was again postponed. Te new date of May 27 turned out to be perfect. Te Coombs Sod Farms truck from Elmer, NJ, loaded with 6,000 square feet of bluegrass sod, was onsite at Monroe

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Street as scheduled. Te City Public Works department lent a hand with the sod laying and handled the complete removal and clean-up at the end of the day.

The Purpose Come Alive Outside is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Its mission is to inspire collaborative community systems that create awareness…encourage people to enjoy the outdoors…enjoy the full benefits of outdoor space. Te Green Street Challenge is a day-long event that allows