Painted horseshoes donated to Milton.

Students at Hopewell Middle School decorated horseshoes to be used throughout the city. Horseshoe decorating has become a yearly event for the students.

By Jonathan Copsey; Appen Newspapers

MILTON – Slowly but surely, the young city of Milton is gearing up programs and events that can properly be called "traditions." There's the Round Up, Mayor's Walk, numerous events at Crabapple. And now horseshoes.

The Eco Explorers club at Hopewell Middle School has, for the past two years, refurbished old horse shoes and decorated them to be given to the city as community decorations. Last year's crop of shoes still hang beside many of the office doors of city staff members.

"It was such a big deal, Ms. [Debra] Lajewski and I decided to do this on an annual basis," said Eco Explorers teacher Tina D'Aversa. Both D'Aversa and Lajewski help run the club.

According to D'Aversa, the club first got to thinking about the project by wanting to do something visible for the community.

"So many of our students are on horse farms or ride horses," D'Aversa explained. "We know about the fondness for our horses and the mustangs, the school mascot, so we thought 'let's use horseshoes.'"

"The goal is to be able to go around to the fire stations and make sure that they all have some that they can hang on their doors."

In true local folklore, if a hanging horse shoe is turned up, it catches luck; if it is turned down, it spreads the luck around.

With the idea in mind, the students collected used horse shoes from throughout Milton, cleaned them of the rust and dirt, then decorated them.

This year, 150 students took part during the final week of the last school year and set upon horseshoes donated by City Manager Chis Lagerbloom.

The latest batch of decorated horseshoes were presented to the city at a recent council meeting.

"The word of what we do has spread among the students," said D'Aversa. "I think we'll have more and more students want to decorate now."