Every year, Marietta Main Street hangs flower baskets on the lampposts in downtown Marietta. Over time as our downtown district grew with new businesses and new programs, we also grew our downtown flower program that now installs 350 hanging flower baskets full of petunias throughout our commercial district.
“Our fundraising goal for this year’s flower campaign is $20,000 to fund each flower basket + the 6 hours a day for 145 days it takes in labor to water the baskets + care and maintenance of our watering tractor, all managed by Jay Huck and his team at Huck Greenhouses.
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In 2018, we launched an annual Mother’s Day Fundraising Campaign to cover the costs of our downtown beautification program. Last year, in 2020, we changed the focus of this campaign to one of hope. With the onset of the COVID-19 public health emergency and the closure of downtown businesses, our Flowers for Hope campaign brought together nearly 200 donors to sponsor downtown lampposts and ensure our beautiful purple petunias decorated downtown.
This year, we are once again launching a Flowers for Hope campaign. Many businesses are back open but some are not; the struggle to balance operating costs against occupancy limits and continued restrictions loom into the spring and summer months. We are hopeful that this summer will be one where tourists flock back to Marietta, shoppers and diners are out and about safely supporting local businesses, and events bring folks from across the Mid-Ohio Valley to downtown Marietta to enjoy our river views and fun festivities.
We are asking individuals, organizations, and businesses who can financially support this campaign to join us in our efforts to beautify our historic, vibrant downtown! Flower baskets can be sponsored In Honor of or In Memory of anyone of the sponsor’s choosing, especially those who make- or have made - a positive difference in Marietta.
Basket sponsors will be listed on our Beautification webpage and also have a tag displayed for each sponsored basket on a downtown lamppost throughout the summer.
Each basket sponsorship is $75 and sponsors have the option to contribute an additional $25 as a donation to Marietta Main Street in support of our mission to continue revitalizing downtown and doing our part to bring the Marietta community together.
Contributions to this effort - the $75 basket sponsorship and an additional minimum request of $25 as able - enables us to not only successfully fund the flowers that mean so much to locals and visitors alike, but it also enables Marietta Main Street to stay operational so we can continue doing what we do best: care for the heart of our community.
The deadline to sponsor downtown lampposts was Friday, May 7th.
