Park adds color, music and movies

LA CRESCENTA — Two Strike Park has a new addition to the landscape this summer in the form of some eye-catching murals.

Brianne Johnson, 15, a member of La Crescenta’s Girl Scout Troop No. 290, recently completed her Gold Award project, which included the creation of Two Strike Park’s new pond and garden, as well as a series of colorful and informative murals.

The murals, which also serve to educate the public on native plants, were temporarily placed on the outer walls of the park’s restroom facilities last week, and that’s where they will hang permanently once the Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Department procures the necessary protective glass and frames.

Johnson’s project involved education for herself, as well as for those who will visit the park and learn from its new garden and murals.

“I knew a little about plants, but not a lot about California-native plants,” Johnson said, adding that she learned a lot from one of the donors at Jackson Shrub of North Hollywood, who also helped with plants and landscaping for the park garden.

Johnson depicts some of that knowledge on her murals in the form of drawings and a carbon cycle graphic.

Although she did her own artwork on the murals, Johnson received help on the garden from more than a dozen local Girl Scouts, from Troop Nos. 290 and 6801, and from a few local Boy Scouts, including her brother, Michael, 12.

She also generated about $25,000 in mostly in-kind donations from local businesses for the project.

The youth recently added several new larger plants to the gardens, learning from problems in growth and adaptation with the smaller plants. She’s hoping once people get used to the beautiful pond and plants, it will become a cherished part of the park.

“It’s a great place to sit and eat your lunch or just enjoy the water moving over the rocks,” she said.

Crescenta Valley Town Council President Steve Pierce said he’s proud of Johnson and her work to make the garden project come together.

“She did a wonderful job, and it really adds a lot to the park,” he said.

Two Strike Park, high above Foothill Boulevard on Rosemont Avenue, will be the stage for a number of community events this summer.

In addition to several county programs, the Crescenta Valley Town Council and the Historical Society of Crescenta Valley will again offer Music and Movies in the Park this summer, beginning with a special screening July 18 of the Dennis Morgan classic, “The Desert Song.”

That free event also will include the jazz and ragtime music of the Maestros, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The movie starts about 8:30 p.m.

“There will be popcorn, and people can bring chairs, blankets and their meal, and just enjoy a great time together,” Pierce said, adding, “There’s something about those old-style movies that if you watched them on television it wouldn’t be the same at all. There’s something about watching on the big screen and being outdoors, under the moon and the stars. It’s great.”