Army of volunteers clear windstorm debris at Ogden city parks

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

OGDEN — Volunteers were out in force at nine Ogden city parks helping clean up after last week’s hurricane-force winds.

Neighbors and city workers answered the city’s plea for help at the heavily damaged parks on Monday.

For many, the neighborhood park is like their backyard, and it can be hard to see the landscape change so quickly.

“I love the trees, actually, so it makes me sad that these trees are falling,” said Cathy Fennell, who volunteered to help at Mount Ogden Park. “I love the green space. I love the view — it’s just very majestic.”

It’s also very close to her heart.

“I was married in this park. What was it, 19 years ago? So I have a vested interest in this park, and that’s why I picked this one,” she said.

Fennell said she and her husband Rick were just there in July to celebrate their anniversary.

“We were under a tree over there somewhere, and I’m not even sure if that tree is still there,” she said.

Cathy and Rick Fennell married at Mount Ogden Park where she spent her Monday clearing up debris. (Photo: Family photo)

It was important enough that Fennell made sure to bring along her friend, Erin Howard.

“I feel like our kids use this park. We play tennis, we play pickleball here. There are lots of activities and we want to support our city,” Howard said.

Ogden city employees also took a break from the usual day to day activities to join in the community effort. That included a group from the Ogden Police Department, who showed up at Lorin Farr Park.

“We’re trying to make a difference in our community. Aside from the normal stuff that we do, our city’s just been ravaged by the winds that we had last week, along with other communities,” said Diana Lopez, from the police department community outreach office.

Cathy Fennel and her friend Erin Howard teamed up to help with clean-up. (Photo: KSL TV)

“Makes me happy that it’s so well-supported, and that there are people here, working hard and we’ll have this done in, I bet you, a half an hour,” Fennell said.

Ogden city has extended green waste drop-off hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

A temporary dropoff site is also available at 720 Park Boulevard.