The spring season began early with Maple Magic in the park. Matt Kaufmann, from the Centers for Nature education conducted a demonstration of tree tapping and syrup making on March 3rd. About two dozen very interested children and adults attended this informative and fun session.

The sugar maples that border the fist hole of our very own golf course were tapped! We got a chance to taste the sap and begin the process. The sap was then boiled on the patio outside the golf Clubhouse/Ski Lodge. Talk about a cook out!

April brought us the big Earth day clean-up effort. The Eastwood Girl Scouts along with about 30 SPA members and friends participated. The Peace Garden was cleaned/weeded of the winter debris.  Drains along the Safe Passage trail were also cleared. It should be noted that more than 600 feet of drains have been cleared out and put back into service for the benefit of the park. We can thank Board members Mike Behnke and John Mariani for this tremendous effort. Great job guys! Mr. Esposito from the City DPW cleared out the relevant sewers so they would be ready to accept the flow of water from the newly cleared drains.

In May, we worked with the Centers for Nature Education (CNE) to continue improving our gardens, drains and to restore native plants that are an ideal habitat for bird populations. CNE along with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology came to Sunnycrest on May12th to view and count the surprisingly large number of birds that live in our park. More than two dozen species were identified including; Cooper’s hawks, woodpeckers and woodcocks. The Park Association served a delicious breakfast to our bird watchers. We also had students from Huntington school displaying their artwork with their favorite birds.

During May we also held our 3rd Annual Basketball Tournament. Our Bravest vs. Our Finest hit the court at Fowler High School. The event was sponsored by SPA in conjunction with the Syracuse School District and department of Parks and Recreation. It was great game and everyone present really enjoyed themselves. During halftime, some Fowler students took part in a three point shooting competition and three man game. Those kids sure know how to play. The best part of the evening was the fact that the game raised more money for the school than either of the prior two years. The kids were the real winners that night and we thank all of the police and fire fighters that played or came out to support them. You are – Our Best!

June was planting season. With generous support from the Community Foundation, SPA worked with students and staff from Huntington and Henninger High School to install native gardens on school grounds. Huntington’s native garden is in their Freedom Garden and Henninger’s is in their newly created Environmental Garden. SPA hopes that these gardens will become valuable and heavily used learning laboratories for the students. Karen Miskell, a landscape architect and also a member of the SPA Board designed the gardens. Mr. Parillo from Huntington and Ms. Nigro from Henninger were instrumental in helping the projects reach their completion.