Beautification

Beautification makes Carbondale more welcoming to prospective home-buyers and businesses and is a sign of economic well-being.  Keep Carbondale Beautiful actively encourages beautification of residences and businesses through the Bright Spot Award and by providing native trees and shrubs at our Tree Sale. Even if a city is entirely functional and livable, there is always something additional to be gained when efforts are taken to enhance aesthetic value through buildings that enhance neighborhood pride and through well-maintained greenery. 

Go to Tree Sale page.

Looking for the Champion Tree Contest?  

Can we have too many trees?!?

Each year, KCB devotes a chunk of its grant money to planting more trees along the streets of Carbondale.  According to James Howard Kunstler, there are four functions of street trees: 
  • to spatially denote the pedestrian realm
  • to protect pedestrians from vehicles in road
  • to filter the sunlight onto the sidewalk
  • to soften the hardscape of buildings and create a ceiling over the street/walkway
Thanks to our latest sponsor - Burkdell Mulch!
​The Year The Monarch Didn’t Appear
Check out this article from the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/sunday-review/the-year-the-monarch-didnt-appear.html?_r=0
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Beautification projects - ongoing.  
--KCB's Garden on Grand.  Our native Plant Garden at Grand Avenue and Piles Fork Creek highlights the start of the Greenways Pedestrian/Bike Trail.  It has also reduced litter in and around the creek.​
Carbondale's Most Beautiful Spot --
When was the last time you walked the trail at Campus Lake?  Do it again!  Introduce a new friend to Carbondale's most beautiful spot.
Besides Campus Lake, votes for “most beautiful spot” were cast for Longbranch Café’s terrace, Castle Park (Jeremy ‘Boo’ Rochman Memorial Park), Rothrock Prairie (Green Earth’s North Oakland Nature Preserve), and the Labyrinth Peace Garden at Gaia House. The Labyrinth and Longbranch have both been recognized in the past with Bright Spot Awards. 
Garden Tours - 1st SUNDAY in JUNE 11am-3pm The tour is self-guided: participants can drive or even bicycle to all the gardens.  They are all within city limits.  Tickets and maps can be purchased for $5/person at the Old Train Depot (corner of Main and Illinois) on that Sunday from 11am until 2 pm. ​
First Sunday of June - watch for details.  "Ticket" is a brochure with photos, descriptions, and a map.  Gardener(s) on site to answer questions.  Send us your recommendations of beautiful gardens in and around Carbondale.  
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2018 Garden Tour
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We changed up the garden tour in 2017, touring the Chicken Coops of Carbondale
One of these times ... Would you be up for a tour of ... Compost piles?!?!?


--KCB's Alternatives to Lawns workshop was held on July 30, 2016 and included various approaches.
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What would you do to make Carbondale more beautiful? ​

Months of surveying on this topic culminated in a Town Meeting in Nov 2013. 
​The participating groups generated 49 ideas.  The top 5 were:
1.  Bury lines (phone/power) and use Streetscape planning (downtown and all around town)
2.  Plant flowering trees at 4 major entrances to Carbondale (13 E&W/51 N&S)
3.  Add plantings to medians (Mill Street and 51)
4.  Conduct Sustainability Assessment for Carbondale (Whole city)
5.  Create a Dog Park (in Carbondale)

A full report was sent to the Carbondale City Council and the Downtown Advisory Committee. View or download the final report.