Forty giant pots, 21 Turlock Garden Club volunteers and tons of dedication from the Turlock Downtown Property Owner’s Association brought back to life the beauty of downtown Turlock.
“The general public has thanked us so many times. It’s all part of the downtown beautification for the city,” said Carol McRoberts, member of Turlock Garden Club and Chair of the Downtown Flower Project. “It’s not just the property owners that are happy; it’s the business owners that are happy as well.”
For years the Turlock Garden Club had planted and maintained flowers downtown, however, due to prior issues with the watering system Main Street has been bare since October 2012.
The Garden Club spent Monday morning filling the pots once again and restarting a long-standing tradition that benefits the club and community as a whole.
“This is our first day back so it’s major planting,” said McRoberts. “It’s a win-win for the Downtown Property Owner’s Association and the Garden Club because we love doing it.”
The TDPOA has worked in partnership with OSH, the Turlock Garden Club, The Greenery Nursery and Garden Shop and JD Construction to get the pots updated. There is new soil in them, another drainage hole, a new watering system and finally new plants.
“The pots just didn’t match downtown Turlock,” said Gina Loretelli, executive director of TDPOA. “Downtown has a lot of people walking around, it’s really busy, the restaurants are always packed, and the look just didn’t match the atmosphere.”
The TDPOA has also worked alongside David Yonan from All Star Trophies and Signs to get seasonal banners up for the entire Downtown district.
“The downtown donated CSU Stanislaus banners, but we also have a banner program where any business, event or organization can apply to put their banners up downtown,” said Loretelli. “Anyone interested would just need to come to one of our board meetings for more information.”
The banners will be up year-round and are now complimented by beautiful flower pots lining the street below them. The Turlock Garden Club has agreed to take care of the upkeep, including planting and deadheading the flowers every third Monday of each month.
“We have winter plants right now; they’re not as exciting as spring plants but it’s a start,” said McRoberts. “These plants will look gorgeous until mid-winter and then we’ll plant spring flowers that are just beautiful.”
The giant pots stretch from east to west Main Street featuring a few pots over on Market Street as well.
“We want to keep the community looking beautiful so that more people will come down and utilize the shops that are here,” said Debbie Brereton, president of the Turlock Garden Club. “That’s very important to us to keep the old town alive.”
If anyone is interested in volunteering for any downtown projects, events or the Turlock Garden Club, email todowntownturlock@gmail.com.
