City honors Keep Wimberley Beautiful with award for Community Excellence

Keep Wimberley Beautiful, dedicated to enhancing the town’s public spaces and one of the city’s longest-tenured nonprofit organizations, was honored by Wimberley City Council with its first-ever Community Excellence Award.

The organization is being recognized for the recent completion of the newest “Welcome to Wimberley” water wheel entry sign on FM 2325 and the ever-increasing list of important cleanup projects the group manages on an ongoing basis.

The award was presented at the Sept. 29 Council meeting. It was accepted by Keep Wimberley Beautiful President Carol Scheel along with members Martha Knies, Carol Scheel, Sarah Atwood, Jim Miller and Jeanette Barlow.

Martha Knies stated that, years ago, her and a few others were sitting around one day at the Cypress Creek Café. They were looking outside and said, “When is someone going to do something about all these weeds and all this trash?” They decided it might as well be them, and Keep Wimberley Beautiful was born. Knies stated that “Keep Wimberley Beautiful was created to encourage the city to help,” and she is proud of our city.

For more than 30 years, KWB has done just what the group’s name says it does: Organizing trash pickup days to maintain landscaping in parks and on roadsides to seasonal decorations on the Ranch Road 12 bridge and on our hand-crafted welcome signs.

In addition to the fourth water-wheel welcome sign, KWB sponsors bulk trash pickup, Shred-it Day, Drug Take-Back Day, its own community Beautification Award, seeding projects for future trees around town and much more.

“Every single day when you walk or drive through Wimberley, you experience the good work of Keep Wimberley Beautiful,” said Wimberley Mayor Gina Fulkerson. “Keep Wimberley Beautiful represents the very best of our community and puts a smile on the face of locals and visitors alike.”

The Community Excellence Award has been established by the Wimberley City Council to highlight groups, businesses or individuals who have distinguished themselves in Wimberley through service, creativity and/or improvement projects that enhance our community in a significant or unique way.

The award consists of a plaque for the recipient. In addition, the recipient’s name will be listed on a plaque displayed in city hall that includes the names of all the awardees in a given year.“Wimberley is an extraordinarily giving community,” said Mayor Pro Tem Rebecca Minnick. “Every day in our town, individuals, groups and businesses are supporting each other and the entire valley in remarkable ways. This is a special council award to honor their outstanding accomplishments and contributions to our community.”