[OMS_MANAGERS] Flower Basket Programs

[Chantal Ivenso]

Our regional main street program is somewhat new and we don’t have any documentation on a flower basket program, yet. But other entities in the area have taken on flowerbox/basket programs.

For example in Joseph, the city purchase and maintain the hanging flower baskets. They have an irrigation system but some of it isn’t working so public works have been going around to those. The city also has a flowerbox program where business owners and community members sign up annually to adopt a box. People are supposed to keep their boxes tidy and may plant certain plants. The boxes are also on an irrigation system, but they sometimes don’t work well. Last spring Joseph high school students came down for the flowerbox spring cleanup event. I’m hearing that the school is hoping to do this annually.

Take care,
Chantal

Chantal Ivenso (Pronouns: she/they<https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/hra/downloads/pdf/services/lgbtqi/Gender%20Pronouns%20final%20draft%2010.23.17.pdf>)
Economic Development Specialist | Wallowa County Regional Main Street Manager
Northeast Oregon Economic Development District (NEOEDD)<http://www.neoedd.org/>
101 NE 1st Street, Enterprise, OR 97828<https://www.google.com/maps/place/Enterprise+Library/@45.4257542,-117.276304,20z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x54a3f98f98626283:0xb436ac4e3f7290cd!8m2!3d45.4257542!4d-117.2760638!16s%2Fm%2F0jb596j?entry=ttu>
Suite 100 (Enterprise Library basement)
541-426-3598  ext. 4

I sometimes work remotely. NEOEDD encourages you to reach out to staff via email or phone. If you leave a voice mail, please be sure to include a number where I can reach you. Thank you!

[cid:image001.png at 01DA6590.9A5504D0]<http://www.neoedd.org/>


From: OMS_MANAGERS <oms_managers-bounces at omls.oregon.gov> On Behalf Of Kristine Hayes
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2024 12:31 PM
To: Oregon Members <oms_managers at omls.oregon.gov>
Subject: Re: [OMS_MANAGERS] Flower Basket Programs


In Rockaway Beach, we presale about 300 hanging baskets and other nursery flowers, even trees. Sales are to the business and community members in our area. Businesses pay our cost and get discounts for prepaying, which helps prevent us from over ordering. The proceeds for this fundraiser pay for the flowers in the downtown core and around the visitor center caboose & depot.



Flowers in our downtown area are cared for by Chamber of Commerce volunteers and different community members, and by the businesses that purchase them. We all pitch in on different areas.



From year to year, we order from 1 to 3 nurseries and we do the pre-order sales on a couple of different weekends starting off with Mother’s Day weekend, traditionally. So flowers are distributed throughout town in batches until our farmers market takes over. Our resident population is around 1,200 though we see thousands through our visitor center yearly.



Kristine Hayes- Rockaway Beach

(503)812-1600

 www.RockawayBeach.net<http://www.rockawaybeach.net/>

Chamber of Commerce ~ Community Education

Historic Caboose & Visitors Center




On Feb 16, 2024, at 5:52 PM, Sally Gilcrease <kittypowerv10 at gmail.com<mailto:kittypowerv10 at gmail.com>> wrote:
Ah, life in a really small town! Riddle, population about 1200, also has hanging baskets in the summer as well as several planters along our 5 block Main Street. The chamber of commerce pays for the hanging plants and boxes. One of our city council women plants the boxes and everything is watered twice a day.
We have another city council woman who is also in Chamber, who waters one time per day, and another volunteer who does the water a second time.

They use a golf cart with a very large water tank to do all the watering. It can easily be well over 100 degrees from late June through September, and our volunteers do a wonderful  full job of keeping everything green and blooming.

The planters add so much to our small town Main Street, and the baskets are in full bloom by the end of June for our annual Sawdust Jubilee celebration.

We may have a few buildings with pealing paint and some boarded up windows, but the flowers make all that kind of fade in the sunshine of summer.

Sent from my iPhone
Sally Gilcrease
503-307-0807 mobile



On Feb 16, 2024, at 4:42 PM, Executive Director <executivedirector at downtownmedford.org<mailto:executivedirector at downtownmedford.org>> wrote:

Ariel, love the collaboration on the flower baskets. Being in a larger town with a population of over 90k we do ours a bit differently.

In 2023 and past years, we hired a local nursery and we sold the beautiful flower basket for them at no expense to them. The baskets the last couple of years have been $375. Before you gasp that price includes putting up, taking down, all maintenance including if they need replaced and watering on a daily basis.

With that said 2024 is going to look a bit different as we are turning everything over to the nursery for several reasons. First, the price went to $425 with no warning.
Breakdown on cost
$95 for the 16' basket that is stunning and by August they are 3' long,
$20 for installation,
$20 for take down
and $1.80 a day for 168 watering, fertilizing, maintenance, etc $302

Attached is the flyer we used along with numerous emails and the thank you flyer we sent out.

Annie Jenkins, Interim Executive Director
Downtown Medford Association
Mobile | 541-941-5204
Email | executivedirector at downtownmedford.org<mailto:executivedirector at downtownmedford.org>

If you like Downtown Medford then
Like us on Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/dmamedford/> | Like us on Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/downtownmedfordor/>
Sign-up for our Newsletter<https://downtownmedford.org/subscribe/> + Become a Friend or Partner of Downtown<https://downtownmedford.org/partner/>


On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 9:59 AM Ariel M. Reker <bakercitydowntown at gmail.com<mailto:bakercitydowntown at gmail.com>> wrote:
We changed our flower basket program this year, but I'll do a quick explanation for both. A little background, back in the late 90s, the previous Main Street organization purchased the banner brackets and banners for a portion of our Main Street. When BCD got started in 2018, they fundraised for a local welding company to create the flower basket hangers to match the same section of Main Street that has banners.

In previous years, our Design Chair took flower basket orders (same flowers, different colors) in January and gave that to a local nursery. The baskets are huge and cost $48 each. The nursery then notified our Design Chair when the flowers were available for pickup and delivery (after Mother's Day). BCD would cut a check for all the baskets at this time too. Design Chair would then have volunteers with trailers drive to the nursery, pickup flowers, and then coordinate delivery and pickup downtown. BCD would then be reimbursed when the businesses/building owners would either drop off a check or pay via square. A note here, we did not receive payment for one $48 flower basket from May 2023 until two weeks ago. So there's a small risk there. One of the main issues we've run into are folks buying baskets and then not watering them. We tried purchasing flower basket pots that have a reservoir to keep them watered longer, but people still didn't water and then would be upset with us.

This year, in partnership with Crossroads Carnegie Art Center to help celebrate Gary Ernest Smith's final retrospective show<https://crossroads-arts.org/exhibits/towards-home-the-artwork-of-gary-ernest-smith>, we fundraised to extend the banner brackets and flower basket holders all the way down Main Street. Crossroads fundraised for the show by having special banners made for the show this summer with Gary's work displayed all down Main Street. To help take the pressure off our businesses as well, BCD is purchasing all the flower baskets (that way we can control the colors), and developing a watering program to maintain them and keep them alive. A water tank and trailer have already been donated, but we are working on a vehicle to pull it; along with a volunteer calendar to water everyday this summer. If this falls through, we should have enough funds to work with a local landscaping company to handle watering for us. The cost increased to $50 per flower basket, but we are seeking sponsorships for the flowers this year and in future years to make this sustainable.

I can answer any questions that come up too!

Ariel M. Reker
Executive Director
[Picture]
Baker City Downtown
P.O. Box 1148
Baker City, OR  97814



On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 5:19 PM <director.mfcda at gmail.com<mailto:director.mfcda at gmail.com>> wrote:
Any and all info- she is doing “R&D”

From: OMS_MANAGERS <oms_managers-bounces at omls.oregon.gov<mailto:oms_managers-bounces at omls.oregon.gov>> On Behalf Of Lise Grato
Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2024 5:19 PM
To: Oregon Main Street Network Members <oms_managers at omls.oregon.gov<mailto:oms_managers at omls.oregon.gov>>
Subject: Re: [OMS_MANAGERS] Flower Basket Program

Are you looking for logistics and costs or sponsor info?

Lise

Lise Grato
Executive Director
Albany Downtown Association

W: (541) 928-2469
C: (541) 905-2908

Sent from my iPhone
________________________________
From: OMS_MANAGERS <oms_managers-bounces at omls.oregon.gov<mailto:oms_managers-bounces at omls.oregon.gov>> on behalf of director.mfcda at gmail.com<mailto:director.mfcda at gmail.com> <director.mfcda at gmail.com<mailto:director.mfcda at gmail.com>>
Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2024 5:17:22 PM
To: 'Oregon Main Street Network Members' <oms_managers at omls.oregon.gov<mailto:oms_managers at omls.oregon.gov>>
Subject: [OMS_MANAGERS] Flower Basket Program


Hi Everyone!



If any of you have documentation of your flower basket programs, please send them on to me. My design Chair wants to get this going on a wide scale this year!



Can’t wait to see you all this year!



Yours,

Maryelizabeth E. Garcia

Executive Director

Milton-Freewater Chamber Downtown Alliance

www.mfcda.org<http://www.mfcda.org>

W: (541) 938-5563

C: (509)212-6313






<Spring Hanging Baskets (1).pdf>
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