Many hands make light work for downtown beautification project

Lori Hammelman
Posted 6/8/17

Everything’s coming up petunias in the downtown area as several organizations and community members pitch in with the Rochelle beautification efforts.

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Many hands make light work for downtown beautification project

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ROCHELLE — Everything’s coming up petunias in the downtown area as several organizations and community members pitch in with Rochelle beautification efforts.

Nearly 20 barrels of purple and white petunias and accent plants will be adorning the sidewalks along Lincoln Highway, Lincoln Avenue, and the avenues in between.

The community project is a joint effort between the City of Rochelle, the Rochelle Garden Club, the Downtown Rochelle Association, and the Rochelle Chamber of Commerce.

Rochelle resident Heather Rowland first heard about the project from Koleen Kessen, also a Hub City resident. Kessen, a member of the DRA, said the entities were involved in a downtown curb appeal project in Rochelle.

That’s when the process began.

Rowland is employed at a seed company, specifically a research greenhouse facility that tests plant and flower seeds, including trial gardens to determine which varieties might have successful qualities. The Pan American Seed Company has a bonus program for employees who participate in community service projects.

“When I found out from Koleen that there was this project going on, I thought it would be great to be involved and donate plants to the Rochelle community,” Rowland said. “Because the company I work for is a research facility, they release plant materials to us for our own gardens or to be used in community projects.”

Rowland grew up in Rochelle, so she said naturally she wants to help the community look nice.

“It’s fun, I enjoy it. With all these nice barrels they have down here, it’s going to be really great to see them fill out and look nice,” Rowland added.

 

Barrels repurposed

Kessen, who is employed with Bright Farms, remembers the day she brought her friend to the DRA meeting.

I was part of the DRA, and they were talking about flower boxes, and I thought about my friend Heather. I brought her to the next meeting and asked if she would be able to donate flowers,” Kessen said. “Everyone got super excited, then Naomi [Baldwin, DRA member] mentioned about the barrels in storage. We’ve been coordinating getting the barrels cleaned and ready.”

The DRA received 50 used whiskey barrels from Goose Island, a brewery and distillery in the Chicago suburbs. The president of the Rochelle Garden Club’s son is a brewmaster for the facility. Normally barrels are burned at the end of their usefulness.

The barrels were stored in a Rochelle warehouse until the tops could be cut off. Since the barrels are full size, a wooden stand needed to be placed inside before the dirt and flowers were planted. Along with the purple and white petunias, there are accent plants, making it a total of 12 per planter.

Bright Farms donated the soil used in the planters.

A coworker of Rowland, Gigi Garcia, assisted in the planting along with garden club member Bobbie Colbert who offered to help.

“This is a joint project between all of the entities…the City, the Garden Club, the Downtown Association, the Chamber,” said Tricia Herrera, DRA and chamber member. “We wanted to get together and start the beautification process, the transformation that’s going to happen in the downtown over the next few years."