Sea Isle Recognizes the "Beauties" in Town

Each year, Sea Isle City’s Environmental Commission presents Beautification Awards to local properties that have shown improvement in their overall appearance, display attractive architecture and landscaping, or have maintained an eye-catching exterior. Properties are nominated by residents and visitors, who are asked to submit application forms for any private property in Sea Isle. After viewing all of the nominated properties, Environmental Commission members gathered on Sea Isle City’s Promenade earlier this month to distribute their 2021 Beautification Awards to this year’s winning property owners, who each received a plaque created by local artist Bob Fagan and a $30 gift certificate courtesy of Sea Grove Nursery in Ocean View. This year’s winning properties include: 304 38th Street, east unit (Finocchiaro); 6008 Landis Avenue (Franks); 19 59th Street (Logan); 17 45th Street, south unit (Pettine); 8911 Pleasure Avenue, east unit (Sarbello); 5800 Pleasure Avenue (Sisters of Mercy Retreat House); 5912 Pleasure Avenue (Spaeder); and the entire St. Joseph Catholic Church campus, including the church properties on Landis Avenue and the Parish Center at 126 44th Street. According to Beautification Awards organizer Dudley McGinty, who has been a member of the Environmental Commission for 30 years, dozens of properties are nominated annually and each typically receives one or two nominations. Father Perry Cherubini, pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church, stands next to some of the colorful flowers that helped the church campus to win a Beautification Award. This year, 38 nominations were submitted to the commission, including eight for St. Joseph’s campus and four for the Sisters of Mercy property. “The Sisters of Mercy house recently went through a large transformation,” McGinty said in a news release. “They brought in heavy equipment to remove all of their overgrown trees before planting new trees, flowers, and shrubs and adding a stone garden wall – and the end result is very nice.” Environmental Commission Chairperson Annette Lombardo said it is unusual when so many nominations are received for one property, as was the case this year with St. Joseph’s campus. “The parish office and rectory always looked nice, but in the past year an obvious change has taken place that many people have noticed. In fact, the entire parish campus has an improved appearance, because the new pastor (Father Perry Cherubini) has added flowers and other accents overall. Clearly, he has a green thumb,” Lombardo said in the release. Meanwhile, all of the homes that received awards had beautiful landscaping this summer and deserved to be honored, McGinty pointed out. “It is difficult to choose the winners because many lovely properties are always in the running – and this year was certainly no exception,” he said. To view photos of all of this year’s Beatification Award recipients, go to www.VISITSICNJ.com and click the “Photo Gallery” link on the home page. To learn more about the Sea Isle City Environmental Commission, call (609) 263-2081.