On Saturday, April 20, Joseph Depman, a senior at Jenkintown High School, and a crew of roughly 20 borough residents put the final touches on the gazebo in Town Square.
The gazebo, for years painted a shade of green, now has a fresh coat of red, white, and blue.
“I was looking for an Eagle Scout project, and the borough contacted our troop about the 150th anniversary. One of the options was renovating the gazebo, which I thought was a really good project because it’s a really central part of the town and something that everyone sees,” Depman said.
The project, which began on Thursday and took approximately 200 collective hours to complete, included sanding, scraping, and painting.
Depman and his crew gave Town Square’s sign kiosk a new look as well:
Marion Rosenbaum, a 1964 graduate of Jenkintown High School who is releasing a new book about Jenkintown’s history on May 6, provided pizza and thanked them for the effort, Depman said.
“Jim Riggins, public works foreman for the borough, was a huge help, too,” Depman said. “Ben Bergman, chair of Jenkintown 150, put us in touch with the borough. He came up with the idea to link the 150th anniversary to an Eagle Scout project.”
“Fostering good citizenship is one of the central aims of Scouting, so Troop 201 proudly supports Joseph’s project to celebrate our borough’s 150th anniversary,” Greg Lester, Assistant Scoutmaster, said. “The gazebo at Town Square is the social heart of Jenkintown, all year round, and is emblematic of what it means to participate actively in our community.”
With the project behind him, two merit badges are the last leg of Depman’s journey to become an Eagle Scout.
“Every time we went to work on it, there were families and kids there. It’s something everyone uses,” he said. “The process was relatively smooth.”
For more on Jenkintown Troop 201, which is based at Immaculate Conception Church, you can visit their website.
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Photos: Greg Lester