AUBURN - The Orchard Street Area Association has been working hard this year.

“We had more meetings this year, because we did more,” said Arlene Ryan, president of the 11-year-old neighborhood association.

For some time, the determined neighborhood group has had plans to put up painted, curbside flower planters in the Orchard Street area, create rack cards and a Web site advertising the benefits of the neighborhood to outsiders and hold a neighborhood picnic so that people in the area could get to know each other.

As of Sunday, they could check those three tasks off the “to-do” list.

The flower planters were placed along the neighborhood's streets last spring, the rack cards will be available at various locations around the city as early as this week and the neighborhood picnic, which drew a large crowd, was held Sunday.

Even with those tasks behind them, though, members of the Orchard Street Area Association spent part of the day at the picnic discussing possible future projects: Ryan said she envisions holding a movie night at Benton Street Playground someday, to recognize the Case Laboratory being a large part of the neighborhood.

Resident Katie McIntyre said she would like to see a sign put up near the intersection of Orchard and Washington streets alerting motorists that there are children in the neighborhood.

Both McIntyre and Ryan said they'd like to see the city focus more attention on the worn-out Benton Street Playground to give the neighborhood children a better place to play.

The association, which began as a neighborhood watch, has been using much of its resources recently to promote the neighborhood and reverse its negative stigma.

“We've been given a bad rap. We have a stigma I'd like to erase,” Ryan said. “We want to promote people buying into the neighborhood.”

The new promotional rack cards, featuring the subhead “Rebirth of a neighborhood,” boast the area's close proximity to both the Cayuga Museum and the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, as well as the post office, the library and schools.

Part of the card reads: “A mixture of ‘older' and ‘younger' dwellers coexist in our safe area making it ideal for the All-American family, or, the on-the-go young professional.”

The cards and Web site, at www.OrchardNeighborhood.org, were designed by Laura Coburn.

While association members have been working to improve the neighborhood's image to the outside, they've also been looking to improve the dynamic on the inside - between the older and younger, and short-term and long-term residents - which was the intention of Sunday's block party.

“I think it turned out very nice. They need more things like this,” said McIntyre, referring to the children who showed up to play at the park for the picnic. “Maybe more people will come (to the meetings) when they see that we did get something done.”

The association has used about half of its $3,000 Community Development Block Grant designated for the Orchard Street area in 2004. The rest, Ryan said, will likely go toward maintaining the flowers in the curbside planters and paying to maintain the Web site.

The group has also gone a long way with donations. Several local merchants donated the food for the picnic Sunday, and the Grow Auburn's Trees group planted 30 new trees in the area about a year ago.

Shirley Tillinghast, who has lived along Orchard Street for 50-plus years, said the area has gone through tangible changes in the past decade. The neighborhood is not as close-knit as it used to be, as it has become a more transient area. But Tillinghast said that's not unique to Orchard Street.

“Fifty years ago, you knew your neighbor. Fifty years ago, you kept you door unlocked,” Tillinghast said, noting that that was no longer the case. “But I don't care where you live, you get the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Tillinghast said while some people in the neighborhood can occasionally get a bit rowdy, she has never personally had any problems with anyone in the area. The block party, she said, was a good way for neighbors to start interacting with each other again.

That's what Anthony and Renee Felice, who live on Orchard Avenue, came to do on Sunday. Anthony Felice said the picnic was the first Orchard Street Area Association event the couple had attended.

“We thought it would be cool to meet a few people,” Felice said, who, along with his wife, grew up in the neighborhood. “I think (Orchard Street) gets a lot of bad publicity. ... I like the area.”

Staff writer Anne Gleason can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or at anne.gleason@lee.net.