Sittin’ Pretty! Simply Southern Garden Club makes Downtown more Hospitable with new Bench

It is often said that necessity is the mother of invention. In the case of the Simply Southern Garden Club, necessity also turned out to be the mother of generosity. When garden club member Faye Britt and club president Susan Wehe, visited downtown Laurel last October to celebrate the opening of the Central Avenue roundabout, they noticed a need for seating in the area. As they perched on a window ledge in front of Magnolia State Bank, they realized that the downtown area did not have any good places for visitors to stop and “set a spell”.  This oversight in hospitality led them to petition their club members to purchase and donate a park bench for the area. Once approved, they contacted the city to find a company to order from and to work out the logistics.

“The city allowed us to have the bench shipped here and installed it for free,” Britt said. “We’re glad we could be a part of this. We hope others will join us and get some more benches here,” she said.

Earlier this summer, the club held a brief dedication ceremony to unveil the new bench and to thank the city for their support. Laurel Mayor Johnny Magee thanked them for their efforts. “We are so proud of our garden clubs. We are so grateful for them. They do so many things! They do great things all over the city and we appreciate all of their efforts because they keep Laurel the City Beautiful!”