They dug around in the dirt, planted flowers, and in the process helped beautify Palmerton’s crown jewel landmark.

Kids for the Community, a Palmerton-based Facebook group, joined borough residents as they planted a colorful array of flowers in the borough park Tuesday evening.

“They’re making a whole new thing from scratch,” said Jennifer Merkel, founder of Kids for the Community. “This is the best turnout we’ve ever had; they’re loving it.”

Mia Samok, a fourth-grade student at S.S. Palmer Elementary, like many, surely wore the dirt on their sleeves.

“I like planting, being with my friends,” said Mia, 10. “My goal is to have a big garden by 2022.”

Fellow fourth-grader Lucas Szumigraj said he also enjoyed the project.

“It’s to help the community plant flowers, and have fun,” said Lucas, 10. “Planting is fun; you get very dirty.”

Raegan DeWalt, a fourth-grader at S.S. Palmer, said she too was glad to assist with the project.

“I enjoy planting flowers,” said Raegan, 10. “How colorful it will be, and people see it.”

While they certainly made up the largest contingent, it wasn’t just the younger students who assisted with the project.

Older students, such as Palmerton Area High School junior Brynn Merkel, also took turns planting flowers.

“It’s just fun helping the community, cleaning up the park,” said Brynn, 16. “I think it’s nice all these younger kids are helping out.”

Brooklynne Winger, an eighth-grader at Palmerton Area Junior High School,

“I think it’s neat to have everyone around, see every kid,” said Brooklynne, 14. “We all got to have a good time together.”

Corine Lesher, assistant director for Kids for the Community, said the youth were particularly interested in working on the heart-shaped garden in the northeast quadrant of the park.

“It’s an awesome turnout,” Lesher said.

Clare Papay, co-organizer of the event, explained the purpose of the project.

“We saw there were areas in the park that didn’t have flowers in them,” Papay said. “We wanted to make sure everything looks beautiful, and it gets kids involved.”

Papay noted that members of the community donated money, and specifically singled out More Pickles Please 1380, which helped them pick out the flowers.

She said not only did they set aside flowers for the group in the event, they also added to the flowers with their own donation.

Papay said the group also planted flowers in the walkway area section of the park.

In all, about $400 worth of flowers were planted.

Papay said the SHINE program at S.S. Palmer has also requested permission to plant in the same flower bed, and are planning to plant wildflower seeds.

“We will be adding some of these lovely annuals to their display, and also starting a flower bed of our own in another area of the park,” she said. “It’s going to look great.”