Starting officially with the Yorkton Business Improvement District (YBID), in the spring of 2005, the nearly 300 flower pots and the related Beautification Project came to be.聽聽聽
Laurie Renton, Barry Sharpe, and a few others actually started the project with an idea over coffee one morning, thinking how nice it would be to have flowers down the streets and beautify the downtown area.聽聽聽
Working with Young鈥檚 Plant World and the Prairie Harvest Employment Program as the Downtown Business Association and then with the YBID, they were able to secure funding and the larger scale project was born.聽
Each Spring, Young鈥檚 gets busy planting the pots in a separate dedicated greenhouse just for YBID pots.聽聽聽
鈥淒onna and her crew from Young鈥檚, plant, grow and care for the pots during the spring, and come June the pots with their beautiful plants are ready to be distributed within the District,鈥� said YBID Executive Director Donna Brothwell, in a release.聽
Once the pots are ready to go, co-ordination with Young鈥檚 and Prairie Harvest Employment gets underway.聽聽聽
鈥淧HE staff come with trailers or a cube van, load one by one and drop off the pots in dedicated areas that enhance and beautify our business locations and the entire district,鈥� said Brothwell. 鈥淭here are some changes each year on location but we try to keep it fair.鈥澛犅犅�
鈥淥nce the pots are in place the care is taken over by the PHE staff and they keep them watered and fresh-looking all summer.聽聽聽
鈥淪everal businesses help with watering and caring for the pots closest to them and we appreciate all the help.鈥澛�
The pots grow and bloom throughout the season and are kept out as long as possible - weather permitting.聽聽聽聽
PHE staff then bring the pots back to Young鈥檚 for storage and replanting next Spring.聽聽
鈥淓ach year, YBID sets aside $40,000 for this amazing project that includes the services required for maintenance,鈥� explained Brothwell.聽聽聽
As the pots are wooden barrels, there was some deterioration over the years, and in early 2021 YBID applied for grant funding to replace the pots to keep the program up to the nearly 300 utilized yearly.聽聽聽
鈥淵BID was proud to receive a grant from the Painted Hand Community Development Corporation of $5000 for 40 new pots which you will notice on the west end of Broadway as they are black,鈥� said Brothwell.聽聽鈥淵BID wishes to acknowledge Painted Hand Community Development Corporation and their gracious grant and you can check out their logo on each new pot.鈥澛�
Brothwell said the pot program has been a popular one.聽
鈥淓ach year we get tons of calls about the pots from others, not in the district, wondering how to get a pot for their front,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e encourage anyone interested in their own pot(s) to get a hold of Young鈥檚 Plant World and make arrangements as this project is specifically for the district. It is one of the advantages of being in the district.鈥澛犅犅犅�
This year the plants in the pots are Cana lily鈥檚 (Centre stem), Petunias, Begonias, and Sunflowers fill in the main body of the barrels.聽聽聽
More information is at聽聽or call 306.783.9243.
