Purple flowers beautify downtown NYM area

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

It’s hard to miss the beautiful blooming petunias as one wanders the sidewalks of downtown New York Mills. The flowers have long been a staple for pedestrians, but have only been a constant for around 10 years.

“The flowers have been done off and on by Civic & Commerce members. We’ve planted them ourselves, bought the plants, all that stuff,” said Jan Parta, who helps organize the annual phenomenon. “I would say the kids at the school have been working on it, maybe 10 years.”

Parta approached Brian Schornack, the agriculture teacher at NY Mills High School, about having his students plant and grow the flowers each spring.

“They have horticulture class, they have a greenhouse,” said Parta. “I just approached Brian and asked him if it’s something the kids could do. They started growing them and some years they’re better than others. This year they were exceptionally good. It depends on their conditions in the greenhouse.

“They’re petunias,” Parta continued. “They didn’t used to be, but that was easier for the kids. That was something they already grew and could grow, so Brian orders whatever he thinks will be the best variety and then they plant them and grow them.”

The flowers are sponsored by the Mills Dream Team who raises funds for the Otter Tail County Relay for Life each year. Parta explained that it’s a community effort, however, as many people are involved in its success each year.

“The kids grow them, replant them, and take care of them,” said Parta. “The Civic & Commerce pays for them. The Dream Team is in charge of them. Then the city puts out the planters for us. We move them around if they need to be and they pick them up and store them for the winter again, so everybody is kind of involved in it. We try to stick with the themes of purple and pink for cancer.”

Doug and Julie Witt, as well as Jerry Nesland, have volunteered to water the flowers over the past few summers. A job that requires a lot of watchful care and diligence in order to keep the flowers from wilting in the hot summer sun.

“We used to take turns,” said Parta. “Each of us had so many plants, but it got to be so that it wasn’t consistent enough. So Jerry Nesland and Doug and Julie Witt volunteered to water the for the past few summers. Which has been a hard job this summer.”

The petunias are meant to raise awareness for cancer research, a large goal of the Relay for Life organization. The color theme came about after a member made the suggestion.

“Kay Tougas used to be my co-chair and she headed something that the theme was ‘paint the town purple,’” said Parta. “So she said, ‘let’s plant the town purple this year.’ So that’s how the planting downtown came about and why the plants have kind of stayed in that purple range.”

There are 19 planters around town altogether. One sits at Lunds and the rest are scattered throughout downtown NY Mills, beautifying sidewalks and welcoming visitors to shops and businesses.