Enhancement Project Completed for City S MLK I40 Gateway

News Release Contact: Cathy Poulos - Cape Fear Garden Club, Inc. – Civic Improvements Committee “Promoting Beauty in our Community” 910 538-5550 [email protected]

“Enhancement Project Completed for City’s MLK – I40 Gateway”

Wilmington, North Carolina: The Cape Fear Garden Club, Inc. © Civic Improvements Committee initiated an enhancement project for the intersection of Martin Luther King Parkway & I-40 intersection, one of Wilmington’s prominent gateways. The newly completed landscaped project is just under the prominent “Wind and Water Structure” that is viewed at that entrance to our city. The project vision and design was initiated two years ago by the Civic Improvements Committee and was coordinated through the Department of Transportation and Wilmington City Council. The gateway project was funded by a DOT Enhancement Grant and was let by the Roadside Environmental Unit to Defenbaugh Landscape to complete the work. The design was artistically inspired as a “reflection of plantings under the Sailboat-like structure” and includes palm trees, white azaleas and a variety of grasses and spring bulbs to compliment the contemporary design of the welcoming structure above.

The completion of this project is just in time to welcome the thousands of visitors to our area for the spring NC Azalea Festival and Cape Fear Garden Club Azalea Garden Tour © and compliments the hard work of the city, county, and DOT officials in beautifying gateway other gateway entrances downtown. There will be a brief ceremony on Wednesday, March 27 at 11:00 am at the landscaped site, to officially recognize the completion of this project as an important gateway beautification effort to New Hanover County. Members of City Council, New Hanover County Commissioners, DOT, and Cape Fear Garden Club will be present. The Cape Fear Garden Club Civic Improvements Committee would also like to remind the public that the first week in “April is Plant an Azalea Week” – a time for all residents to get a jump start on the spring planting season by planting azaleas and native plants in their personal and business landscapes, maintaining Wilmington’s reputation as the “city of a million azaleas”.

The Civic Improvements Committee is one of 19 Standing Committees of the Cape Fear Garden Club. The committee motto, “Promoting Beauty in our Community” exemplifies our mission – to work with city and county officials to create and maintain projects of beautification in our public spaces for all to enjoy and to inspire community interest in contributing towards this. In addition to “Plant an Azalea Week”, the committee presents a “Beauty Spot –Outstanding Landscape Award” twice a year to winners in three categories: Business, Neighborhood Entrances, and Residential properties. The committee also sponsors the “Cape Fear Garden Club Beautification and Endowment Fund”, created in 2012 as a source of perpetual and permanent funding for beautification projects in Wilmington and New Hanover County. Anyone can make a tax-deductible gift or pledge to the fund, managed by the NC Community Foundation. Information on this fund and other activities of the Civic Improvements Committee can be found on our Facebook page: Civic Improvements – Cape Fear Garden Club.

The Cape Fear Garden Club© with its 350 members was founded in 1925, making it the oldest and largest garden club in North Carolina and among the largest garden clubs in the nation. The organization is best known for producing the annual Azalea Garden Tour©, featuring the finest and most exquisite gardens in Southeastern North Carolina, along with sponsoring the beautiful Cape Fear Garden Club Azalea Belles. Well over $1 million in profits from the Cape Fear Garden Club Azalea Garden Tour© have been distributed throughout our community each year for beautification and horticulture grants, scholarship grants at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Cape Fear Community College, and support conservation efforts at Battery Island, a National Audubon Society bird sanctuary. The Club also produces the annual Cruise of the Lower Cape Fear Bird Island tour, conducts flower arranging workshops, hosts a horticulture specimen contest at monthly meetings, and maintains photographic archives of the Cape Fear Garden Club Azaleas Garden Tour and all club activities. For more information about the Cape Fear Garden Club, Inc. © please visit us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/CapeFearGardenClub or on our website at http://www.capefeargardenclub.com. .