VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Visitors often comment how beautiful Valley City is with the trees, shrubs and flowers, and volunteers play a big role. A number of years back Mark Lloyd and JC Crooks were two of those volunteers who helped establish the plantings at the fountain in City Park.

The Park Board has been short on staff and so this year Lloyd and Crooks were back doing weeding, and more weeding and trimming. Dr. James Buhr chipped in some time watering the area a couple of times, the Peggy Lee tree and other donated trees in the park. Together they made a start in bringing beauty back to the fountain area of City Park.

The fountain, however, which is the center of the planting was vandalized a number of years ago. The fountain had been a feature of the park for almost a century, but was removed around the 1972. Then about 10 years ago the fountain was restored, but sadly vandalized.

The Valley City Park Board has been having conversations on how to fix or replace the fountain, but the cost is quite high, possibly as much as $100,000 for a vandal-proof fountain.

Feature photo: JC Crooks and Mark Lloyd volunteered to weed and improve the area around the fountain at City Park. They were cheered on by JC’s dog. A big thank you to these and other volunteers.