Alexandrian man creates designs in courtyard as New Year’s tradition

People can’t wait to see the designs Arthur Brown creates on his lawn at the corner of Fifth and University streets in Alexandria. It’s a New Year’s tradition.

Even as he got his bike ready for the Alexandria Christmas Parade, people were asking him what he had planned.

They just had to wait and see.

“I’ve been doing this well for 25 years, so I’ve been doing it for a long time,” Brown said. “I just love doing that. It took me 15 hours to do so, so it’s taken me a long time this year.”

The investment varies. Last year it took him 9 hours.

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Brown creates his designs by planting ryegrass – a winter herb that usually stays until spring around November.

“I always put my date on,” he said of the “2-0-2-2” circled around.

As Brown walked through this year’s airing, he pointed out the other designs, such as an “S” snake, window pane, and a maze that someone might be able to walk through.

“I made horseshoe models,” he said. “You can see how it looks like a ‘U’ shape.”

One item was inspired by his mother.

“Further down, I made it like a little railroad track, as you can see here. One of the reasons I put the railroad tracks here is because every time I go through a track railroad, my mom said, “Hey! Did you look both ways? ‘”Said Brown, smiling.” So I put that here to remember her. “

As he enjoys sports, he incorporated the letters “NBA” and “NFL” as well as soccer and basketball designs.

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But every year after he finishes, he starts planning the next year’s creations. He offers about 15 and reduces it to 10.

And Brown doesn’t search the Internet for ideas.

“It all comes from the brain,” he laughed, pointing to his head.

As far as Brown knows, he’s the only one doing lawn projects like his. He hopes that is not always the case and that more and more people give the medium a try.

“They still have time,” he said. “Because I’ve been doing it for a long time. I really would love to see someone else be able to cope with it.”