Flowers Planted in Alpena’s Downtown In Order To Beautify The Area
As the summer continues to roll into Alpena and with the sporadic influx of tourists coming as well to Alpena’s downtown area, Anne Gentry, the Executive Director of Alpena’s DDA partnered with the City of Alpena and held a flower planting and clean up day. The event is an ongoing beautification project by the DDA in order to beautify the City of Alpena, making sure it put’s its best face forward.
To explain what inspired Anne to hold the event, she said, “Last year was our first year to do this, and Julie Dietz, a community member, said she’s seen other downtowns which have flowers around their trees, and it just looks better.” Anne adds, “So, she came to us and the city and said if we could possibly fundraise and do this. The city has been very helpful with it as well, especially as our community grows and more tourists come we really want to put our best face forward.”
There are still more beautification projects the DDA has planned to further beautify the downtown area. One of those future ideas is replacing the old looking planters that businesses rented and replacing them with newer, more elegant looking planters, which the businesses are also available to rent . The city also has gardens and parks that are available for adoption. This would include trimming and maintaining the beauty of the park or garden you choose to sponsor.
Local business Neighborhood Provisions was one of the 41 sponsors of the downtown flower planting. Co–Owner Kevin Currier explains why Neighborhood Provisions decided to sponsor a plant. “It’s all community based, none of this can happen with just opening a shop. With something like this you have to have, trust and understanding.” Kevin adds, “You have to know the people you’re providing these services to and the only way to do that is through getting the community involved and getting the people involved. Having these types of events, having these types of beautification that, you know, make the town feel like what it is… This beautiful town in Northeast Michigan.”
