By Douglas Lee

Special to The Sentinel

Joe's Movement Emporium was one of the many sites around Prince George's County to participate in beautifying the county in the sixth annual Gorgeous Prince George's Day.

"This annual event allows all of our county citizens and residents to participate in the beautifying of our county and will keep it healthy and green for generations to come," said County Executive Jack Johnson.

The event began at 8 a.m. and ended at around 11:30 a.m. The event was followed by a picnic at the Bladensburg Waterfront Park.

Joe's Movement Emporium had a good attendance of volunteers, said David Robinson, director of development for Joe's Movement Emporium.

Robinson worked outside with the volunteers to help beautify the front façade by pulling out weeds and planting the new plants that the county had donated.

The county had donated several different perennials such as junipers, said Suzy Wald, of Joe's Movement Emporium.

"They sent us mature junipers that are going to bloom very nicely," she said.

Much of the planting and cleaning was done by the junior staff, said Wald. This included Wally Coello-Hernandez, 16, and Juan Sevilla, 17, of Northwestern High school.

The staff was busy digging up and breaking up the rocky soil, said Wald.

"It's slow work but it's going on," said Wald.

This countywide initiative is nothing new to Joe's Movement Emporium. This type of cleanup and beautification event was held for the past several years by Joe's, said Ayo Ngozi, community production coordinator for Joe's Movement Emporium.

Joe's Movement Emporium held a month long environmental event that included visits from the Anacostia Watershed Society for environmental outreach in neighborhood schools, said Ngzoi. The event also included an environmental film festival.

Joe's decided two years that the Gorgeous Prince George's Day was also being held, so they decided to overlap the two events, said Ngozi.

The county wide event ended with a picnic held at the Bladensburg Waterfront front park that included an African dance and drumming performance by Soul and Motion, a group that practices at Joe's, said Ngozi.

Photo by Marketa Ebert