ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 15, 1996 TAG: 9605150079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JENNIFER MILLER STAFF WRITER
VALLEY BEAUTIFUL FOUNDATION donated $9,700 to hang potted plants for a 10th year along several streets in downtown Roanoke.
Roanoke City Council member Elizabeth Bowles said no way when asked to climb up a ladder to hang a flower basket.
"I don't think this aged woman can get up on that ladder," she said.
Instead, she handed the job over to city employee Bobby Pratz, who hung the ceremonial basket from a light pole at Market Street and Church Avenue.
Bowles offered a basket to the city during the Valley Beautiful Foundation's 10th annual hanging flower basket dedication in downtown Roanoke Tuesday.
Valley Beautiful president Lynn Davis presented 330 additional flower baskets to help beautify Roanoke's central business district. Filled with bright purple petunias, yellow marigolds, begonias and ferns, the wire baskets hang from light poles that line Jefferson and Market streets, and Campbell, Church, Norfolk and Salem avenues.
"The [Valley Beautiful] founders realized that we were fortunate to live on a special spot on this earth," Davis said. "The payoff? Not only a beautiful community in which to live, but a good memory for tourists to take with them and a good impression for outside businesses looking for a new location."
Each year, Valley Beautiful, a nonprofit organization, gives the city about $7,000 to put up 259 baskets. The money is raised through contributions from residents and businesses.
The organization gave a $9,744 grant to the city this year to purchase 72 additional baskets to hang along Wells Avenue. The grant also included money to put up about 70 flags bearing the organization's green logo.
The baskets decorate downtown until mid-October when city employees put the baskets up for grabs at the Roanoke Civic Center. Several hundred people take part each year.
Even though Valley Beautiful's most visible project in Roanoke is the hanging baskets, the organization has funded more than 70 other projects, including hanging flower baskets in Vinton and landscaping at area schools, government offices, entrances to neighborhoods and highway borders. Volunteers also planted a garden at Virginia's Explore Park and at the cloverleaf at U.S. 220 and Virginia 419 near Tanglewood Mall.
Valley Beautiful is focusing on the greenway system now.
Lucy Ellett, a Valley Beautiful volunteer, said the organization has applied for about $7,000 from a federal highway program that funds alternative modes of transportation. The group would like to provide for a greenway from Market Square to Mill Mountain.
The project, which is part of the Mill Mountain Prospect Greenway project, received preliminary approval from the Commonwealth Transportation Board last week. If given final approval, the project will receive $240,000 from the state.
Other groups wanting to request funding for beautification projects to Roanoke or individuals of businesses who would like to make a contribution may contact the Valley Beautiful Foundation at (540) 725-9044.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ARNE KUHLMANN/Staff. Councilwoman Elizabeth Bowlesby CNBdisplays one of the baskets Valley Beautiful Foundation put up
downtown. President Lynn Davis (left) said the group has funded 70
projects this year.