Colorful planters beautify downtown
Early in its history, Boyertown’s Main Street non-profit organization Building a Better Boyertown (BaBB) invited the public to a series of Visioning Meetings to develop goals toward the community’s revitalization efforts.
For the Boyertown community, planters filled with flowers along its main streets have always been part of its vision. Today, 80 planters, funded by private donations totaling almost $10,000, line the community’s main streets.
Filled with varieties of coleus, dragon wing begonias, lantana, bidens, blue salvia, and canna from Levengood’s Flowers in Douglassville, 40 planters along East Philadelphia Avenue and 40 planters along sev-
eral blocks of North and South Reading avenues bring greater beauty and charm to the community that seeks to become a destination for tourists.
Securing, placing and funding the planters has only been part of story, however. Keeping them watered and the plants alive is the other half of the project.
The Borough of Boyertown provided $5,000 toward the funding of two 65-gallon, battery-powered watering wagons. But securing the volunteer manpower to water the planters daily was an issue that needed a solution.
“We couldn’t imagine the volunteer force it would take to water the planters daily using our wagons,” explained Charles Haddad, BaBB Board member. “They’re too heavy and cumbersome for most people,” he explained—”even me!”
“Fortunately, when we asked the business owners and residents to water the planters outside their establishments, 90 percent of them were happy to commit to the effort Mondays through Fridays,” Haddad continued.
“We were surprised and happy at their willingness; we are, of course, grateful to our volunteers who take over on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays and grateful to St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, our watering depot for refill and storage.”
Roger Lehmann chairs one group of volunteers who water the Philadelphia Avenue planters. Haddad chairs a second group who tend to the planters along Reading Avenue. Each watering session adds one gallon of water to each of the planters and requires 1.5 hours of volunteer time each watering session.
Adrianne Blank, BaBB’s Main Street Manager, offered, “I really enjoyed the instant curb appeal this project brought to downtown Boyertown.”
“But what really touched me was when I visited several businesses to ask if they would help water the planters in front of their building, and learned they were either already doing it or eager to help!” she added. “In addition, there are several residents who are also watering and monitoring watering needs along the street because they like how they look.”
“It has become a great collaboration between merchants, residents, property owners and volunteers. That’s the magic in revitalization. Stay tuned for a volunteer recognition event this fall to thank everyone donating their time and efforts on this project,” Blank concluded.
In 2017, 20 planters were donated as a pilot project. The project was favorably received, inspiring the addition of 60 additional planters in 2018. The original cast iron planters were found to retain heat extensively to the detriment of the plants; the 2018 planters are made of a composite material that does not retain the heat.
Four-foot Christmas trees decorated with festive ribbons and Christmas balls will replace the flowers in late fall to provide decoration throughout the winter season.
Offering further benefits of the project, Haddad suggests, “The planters will assist visitors as they visit Boyertown; they will help to ‘lead’ visitors from their vehicles along the avenue to their destinations — the railroad, for example. Aesthetically, the foliage ‘softens’ our streets, defines the boundaries of our funded revitalization efforts, and perhaps will even encourage individual property owners to improve the appearance of their properties,” he concluded.
BaBB organized in 2002. As a Main Street Community, the organization received funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and private donors to focus on downtown revitalization.
As its vision statement details, the organization’s goals are being realized more and more each year and Destination Boyertown — an unexpected destination in Berks County, eastern Pennsylvania — is truly becoming “a memorable experience like nowhere else.”