Thinking outside the box

Boy Scout Aaron Valint will present the fruits of his Eagle Award project, construction of 11 cedar flower boxes, to the Locks Museum District tonight. Here, he compares a new flower box (left) with an old one from the museum, noting he replicated the dimensions as closely as possible for seamless replacement.

A local Boy Scout is helping to beautify the Lockport Locks area one box at a time.

Aaron Valint, a scout with Lockport Troop 82, will be presenting 11 flower boxes that he made for his Eagle Award project to the Locks District Museum tonight.

Valint, 15, said he saw a need for new flower boxes for the museum, and with the guidance of scoutmaster Paul Gurnett and his troop, he was able to make his idea a reality.

In addition to constructing the boxes, Valint was responsible for planning the project, presenting it to his troop and soliciting donations for the project amongst other things.

One of the first steps was finding the wood.

The wood was sourced from a 150-year-old cistern, courtesy of a patron of one the troop's pancake breakfasts.

Gurnett recalled he had struck up a conversation with the patron, Hartley Hutchins, at the breakfast. When discussing his troop's projects, Hutchins volunteered to donate the wood to Valint's project.

When the time came to collect it, Valint and his family said they had to be careful not to damage the ancient wood.

"We were nervous when we first picked (it) up," he said.

From there, Valint had to form the uncut wood into 42-by-8-by-8-inch boxes. That's where his grandfather, Doug, came into the picture.

"I spent multiple nights at my Papa's house sanding the wood," Valint recalled.

The construction of the boxes took a total of three months to complete. Since the wood is cedar, they should last significantly longer than the previous flower boxes at the museum, Valint said.

For his hard work, Valint has already been praised by his scout master.

"Our troop is very active in the community and Aaron fits right into that. He never wavers and always steps right up to the plate," Gurnett said.

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