Logan’s square

With force of nature, boy beautifies borough

By: Matt Chiappardi
   HIGHTSTOWN — Legos, video games, Pokemon and school fill the days of many 10-year-old boys in America, and Logan Hiers-Evans is no exception.
   But not every 10-year-old spends his or her free time trying to beautify their hometowns.
   What makes Logan exceptional is that the community garden that now sits in the borough’s Rocky Brook Park — where residents will be free to plant and tend whatever flowers and vegetables they wish — would not be there if it weren’t for him.
   "We were immediately ingratiated by him," said Parks and Recreation Commission member Gary Grubb. "There was no way to resist the idea the way he presented it."
   That idea was to, as Logan puts it, "create a beautiful thing for Hightstown," and begin work on a 3,000-square-foot garden that could be cared for by more than two dozen potential gardeners.
   The idea came to Logan after reading the children’s novel "City Green" by Anne DiSalvo-Ryan in his fourth-grade class at the Walter C. Black Elementary school. In the book the main character builds a similar park on the ruins of his New York City apartment building, "to create something beautiful out of something ugly," as Logan describes it. The end of the novel contains tips and instructions on how to create one’s own community garden, and Logan took it from there.
   "He came home from school and told me about it, and it has been his ballgame from then on," said his mother, Shawn Hiers. "I’m just the one with the driver’s license."
   Ms. Hiers described how Logan went about his campaign to make sure his idea became a reality. Logan began last winter, addressing two assemblies at the Black school, looking for student support. He presented his case to both the Environmental and Parks and Recreation commissions, and even spoke at two assemblies in the borough’s First Presbyterian Church.
   "Boy, did that teach him some negotiating and public speaking skills," said Ms. Hiers of her son’s presentations.
   Far from being a nuisance, borough officials seemed to take a shine to Logan right away.
   "He was a delightful young man, and he won us all over," said Sandy BonTempo, a former member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, who retired from the commission in April. "He was well-informed and knew exactly what he wanted to do."
   Public Works Director Larry Blake called Logan "quite an energetic kid who put together a great project."
   "A lot of projects fall short, but (Logan) really exceeded his goals," he added.
   How young Logan was able to single-handedly organize such a campaign is anyone’s guess. He managed to secure donations from the Public Works Department, Global AG, Shop-Rite, Home Depot, and a number of various nurseries in the area.
   "He’d walk into Home Depot and simply ask for so many feet of fencing," said Ms. Hiers. "Then he’d go home and write the thank-you letter."
   It was with that kind of confidence that Logan was able to gather the money and materials necessary for his project. He convinced the fifth-graders at the Black school to raise funds through a walkathon. Kaminski Greenhouse, Tony’s Farm and Garden, and A&M Nurseries donated plants and seeds, and the borough’s Public Works Department hauled over as much leaf mulch and wood chips as Logan needed, said Mr. Blake.
   "Anything Logan couldn’t physically do, we did," Mr. Blake said. That included laying the landscaping rocks, he added.
   Community gardens are a relatively recent phenomenon, whose popularity peaked around the 1980s. The origin of the modern sense of the idea dates back to post-World War II Great Britain after residents of the many cities devastated by German bombing campaigns sought an inexpensive way to rebuild and gentrify the rubble. Called allotment gardens there, its American analog took inspiration from the British plots when many cities suffered from industrial decline and a population shift to suburban areas during the past few decades. As many inner-city areas were increasingly neglected, various community organizations took urban revitalization into their own hands and started gardening collectively. A similar state-controlled phenomenon appeared in Eastern Europe as cities began to decline during the height of the Communist era.
   Logan’s garden is not the first of its kind in Hightstown. A number of residents remember another garden on Railroad Avenue that was started in the mid-1990s. That garden, Mr. Blake remembers, eventually fell into disuse because the people who tended it eventually died. The plot was paved over by the state to make way for the Greenways Project, a series of walking paths that the New Jersey Conservation Foundation hopes will one day stretch from the New York border all the way down to Salem and Cape May counties.
   As for Logan’s garden, most of the 10-foot-square plots have already been taken, but Ms. Hiers says there are still a few left. Logan hopes that most of the plots can be tended by people who don’t have the ability to garden at home.
   "I was impressed that he was thinking about people who are in places where gardening is not allowed," said Ms. Heirs referring to apartment dwellers and some senior citizens in assisted-living facilities.
   Planting began Memorial Day weekend, and while some of the crops are perennials, the garden also yields vegetables like tomatoes and corn. Since Logan and his family either work or go to school, most of their tending takes place on Sundays. However, the garden is open to whomever is slated to tend their area any day of the week.
   What’s next for Logan? Even he isn’t sure.
   Ever a take-life-as-it-comes kid, he can only say, "There are a lot of things I want to do. I can’t remember them all."
   Mr. Grubb, however, has an idea of his own.
   "He should run for president," he said. "His presentation is right from the gut, contrary to even some of our own politicians."
   Logan, on the other hand, looks at his role in the borough with a bit more modesty.
   "I saw something that was missing, and wanted to put in what was missing," he said.
   Anyone interested in participating, should call Ms. Hiers at 371-5899.