The weather couldn’t have been better. Neither could the turnout.

“It’s been fantastic,” City Manager Kenny Smith said about the daylong One Town, One Goal community project. “We’re very proud.”

Approximately 200 organizations members, citizens and neighbors participated.

The project, a collaborative effort between the Kiwanis Club of Griffin, the City of Griffin, the 4-H club, and a long list of partners, focused on cleaning up and updating Turner Street Park and the exterior of 10 owner-occupied houses on Belle, N. 12th, N. 13th, Turner, Ellis and Hallyburton streets.

While One Town, One Goal was sponsored by the City of Griffin, it was the Kiwanis Club that served as a principal sponsor with its Kiwanis One Day Program.

“I’ve been watching people sign in,” said Annie Jones, chairperson of the Kiwanis One Day Program. “It’s been all of the different organizations, but the best part has been the participation of people who live in the area. We’ve had a little bit of everything.”

“This is a community we’ve targeted for redevelopment,” Smith said. “Actually, the city has a Community Development Block Grant where we’ll be coming in later and redoing the water lines, sewer lines, streets and sidewalks. So, we wanted to go ahead and come in and refurbish Turner Street Park here in the middle of the neighborhood. We’ve added some new playground equipment. We’ve updated some equipment. We’re getting briars out of the trees and just cleaning it up. We’ve even done a stream cleanup.”

In some instances, shrubbery was cut down. In others, it was planted.

Repair of owner-occupied houses included minor work on porches, siding and fences as well as yard work.