The Boy Scouts of Troop 337 have been spending some serious time on the bench lately, and the community is a more beautiful place because of it. Five benches along Main Street are now sporting coats of many colors.

Each Scout chose a theme for his bench that reflects his interests. With the help of local artist and activist Dianna Wilson they drew and enlarged their design to fit the dimensions of the bench. The Scouts traced the designs onto large sheets of carbon paper, sanded and primed the wood. Then they rolled up their sleeves and got to painting.

“One of the boys even was out there in the rain, painting with a tarp over his head,” said Joyce Swartz, mother of Scout Michael Swartz.

The community has been giving positive feedback, Swartz said.

“When they started painting … people would drive by, honk, and shout ‘thank you.’ One car actually had an accident because the driver was admiring a bench. Then there was a bicyclist who was watching as he rode by and he went over his handlebars.”

Head-turning aside, three of the five benches also incorporate Broomfield High School. The eagle bench represents the high school’s mascot, and also the highest rank in Scouting, Eagle Scout. It was painted by Michael Swartz, who is a freshman at the school.

Reid Kalsow, also a freshman at BHS, painted the school’s motto “We live it” onto his bench. The bench outside the athletic fields features shoes, cleats and skates representing individual sports. This bench was painted by Austin Reece, who plays soccer for BHS.

Jack Reece, an eighth-grader at Aspen Creek K-8, painted his bench bright yellow with “things to do on a bench” as his theme. Cory VanDuyne, the youngest of the participants, a sixth-grader at Rocky Top Middle School in Thornton, chose to put a large dragon on his bench.

The Scouts involved in the project will earn their “Citizenship in the Community” merit badge. To earn the badge, Scouts must spend at least eight hours performing community service. The idea is to teach the boys leadership skills that will pay off in the future.

“They don’t just do work,” said Tim Kardatzke, assistant scoutmaster for Troop 337, “They’re foremen of the projects.”

Funding for the benches came from a community development grant, allotting enough money to paint 10 benches. The project is an extension of the Broomfield art bench project, which installed 10 benches around town that double as public art. Those benches, which were commissioned by the city from artists across the state, can be found in spots such as Broomfield County Commons, Midway and Community parks and Tom Frost Reservoir.

There is still money available to paint five more benches, so Wilson is looking to get more kids in the community involved.

Broomfield Enterprise Staff