Monthly photo contests help build and celebrate Grand Forks’ University Park Neighborhoods community
Sep. 3—GRAND FORKS — The University Park Neighborhoods’ fire hydrant painting contest is making a return in September, but the organization also has been hosting another contest through the year to expand how the community can showcase the area.
Shilo Previti, coordinator of the UPN, said the idea is part of the UPN’s multiple efforts to contribute to the area and its community.
“We try to do some installations in the neighborhood like public art things, we try to do some public work things like lighting and banners and stuff like that, but we also do a lot of social events to build community with people living in the area and celebrate what makes that neighborhood what it is,” they said. “So this is more under the line of that.”
UPN has been hosting the “Celebrate the Neighborhood” photo contest since spring and will continue to the end of the year. A different theme is selected each month, such as spring blooms and appealing yards, and participants can submit photos through the UPN’s Facebook or email. Each photo is then posted by the UPN, and the one that receives the most likes wins. Each contest has been sponsored by local businesses that provide prizes, such as gift cards and vouchers.
The August contest focused on the neighborhood’s cutest pets, with the winner receiving 102 likes. Barktastic Bakery provided jerky, a tote bag and special dog peanut butter to the winner, Widman’s Candy Shop contributed chippers, the store’s chocolate-covered potato chips, and Archives Coffee House gave out a gift card.
There won’t be a photo contest in September, as the UPN will be focusing on its
fire hydrant painting contest
, Previti said, which people have been working on for the past few months. It will resume in October with a focus on autumnal or spooky yard decorations, followed by a more broad and conceptual contest in November, they said. November will focus on acts of thankfulness, such as where people enjoy donating their time.
“We’re trying to make it kind of a goodwill celebrating month, because I think a lot of people do a lot of volunteering things throughout the year, but of course it’s harder to do them when the weather starts to turn,” Previti said. “So we want to encourage that to keep up into November.”
The photo contests will end in December with a winter wonderland and lights theme. Previti said it has been exciting to see what different neighborhood residents have going on in their yards and how it has built up neighborliness, building a sense of place in the community. More neighbors have come in, too, as people have moved in as the fall semester at UND has begun. Older residents have put together booklets over the past few years for new residents, focusing on topics like information about housing, what to do when moving in and living on campus for the first time, how to be a good neighbor and when trash pick-up days are. Every fall the materials are reprinted, and UPN helps with assembling packers to be dropped off.
“We have actually been really busy doing that this last week or so,” Previti said. “A lot of folks were emailing me, saying ‘I have 35 new neighbors.'”
