Spruce It Up!

By CASEY COLLIER
Heloise LeBlanc has green thumbs…well, figuratively. At least that’s what her friend and co-committee member, Betty Veeder says.
Veeder and LeBlanc know this kind of thing about each other, because it is one of the points that brings them together—planting flowers for Franklin.
They are members of the City of Franklin Main Street Design Committee. Veeder, an ex-banker, is the committee treasurer, and LeBlanc serves as the committee’s planter, or garden specialist, if you will. The committee chair is Diane Chauvin.
Veeder says that the FMSDC was initiated five years ago by Patti Simoneaux, after receiving a call from the city’s newly formed Main Street Board, asking her to head-up a sub-committee dedicated to the floral beautification of downtown Main Street.
They meet once a month and host a few fundraisers throughout the year, the biggest of which, for the last three years has been the selling of Christmas wreaths and garland during the holiday season.
The committee is based on the principal of civic pride, and the idea that if you take care of the place in which you live, it will take care of you right back. Not to mention, the societal implications of failing to show pride in your community leads to overall community irreverence and general malaise.
No, these ladies really do love Franklin, and when you love something, you care for it. So, that’s what they do.
According to Veeder, the FMSDC has rented some 24 planters placed around Main Street. The merchants, whose storefronts enjoy the décor of the planters, pay $25 per year for the pleasure of sponsoring each. They look after the well-being of the flowers therein, and in turn, they benefit from the flowers’ aesthetics.
The contents of the planters are replaced or changed by the committee, as the seasons and holidays demand.
Veeder confided that last year’s planters’ begonias took quite a hit, on account of the uncharacteristically cold winter.
The FMSDC operates solely on fundraisers, donations and whatever the members can afford to proffer from their personal finances.
LeBlanc smilingly said of the committee’s finances, “We started from nothing, and we do (what we can) solely with our own fundraising. Though, Nick Adams from the Franklin High Ag Department was invaluable.
“We designed, with his help, these planters.”
She added that it’s by “sheer determination” that the committee stays afloat financially from year to year.
They recently brokered an adoption of planters at the parish courthouse, which is still reportedly in the works of finalization, as a hose has still to be procured that will reach from the spigot to the planters, and there’s still work to be done on a planter near the courthouse.
LeBlanc went on to say, “This year has been easier. We had a successful fundraiser in the fall with wreath sales. So, this year we just did our spring/summer plantings.”
Last Sunday, a group of committee members and volunteers took to Main Street, pulling out dead debris from the planters, then weeding and replanting.
LeBlanc says this year Franklin may notice a bit more color than in years past, and that was the plan.
“I think it’s a good design concept to keep downtown unified, insofar as having a similar pattern from business to business, so that one looks like part of the whole,” she said.
As for the future, both LeBlanc and Veeder said they would like to see some younger generations of Franklinites assisting in the beautification efforts on Main Street.
They also are laboring under the vision of taking the property adjoining Chic & Shabby, and beautifying it to become an outdoor venue to be utilized by the community.
LeBlanc says she envisions outdoor concerts, barbeques and picnic socials taking place on a bed of lush grass, surrounded by alcoves and linings of blooms and greenery.
But this dream needs support for it to grow legs, and that means donations.
The committee is also fiddling with the concept of placing hanging baskets on Main Street. But again, the hill to be overcome in that case is a financial one.
With visions of the future, and reasonable expectations, the FMSDC intends to keep on keeping on, with their gaze on a prettier, enchanting downtown scape.
LeBlanc and Veeder tell of a time when civic organizations in Franklin could rely on long-term sponsorship. Well, FMSDC has never felt the warm cover of financial stability, though they are in the market for it. So, until then, they will keep on plugging away at their goals, making do with what they have; but gladly, because after all, that’s how one plants a flower… gladly.
“You know, anyone who comes to Franklin,” LeBlanc said, “they come down Main Street. That’s the memory that they’re going to be left with, that it is clean, that the businesses are well-tended to, ‘Oh, look at the time they took. Oh, look at that beautiful flower arrangement,’ and hopefully that’s the memory that they take away from this community, that the citizens have pride in it.”
To volunteer or donate to FMSDC, call Diane Chauvin at 337-346-1299.