Blooming Chester: Townscape seeks donations for planters

It’s springtime in Chester. The daffodils, planted by Chester Townscape, are blooming beside the Hearse House, Public Tomb, Brookside Cemetery and Civil War Monument and serve as reminders that growing weather has arrived and that it’s time to order new flower pots or to replant ones purchased last year.

Chester Townscape volunteers planted the daffodils last fall, but donations from residents, friends, and businesses contributed the funds that made that project – and the flower pots of last summer – happen. Photo by Shawn Cunningham

These planted pots will give a coordinated look to Chester well into the fall. Public pots again will be placed in key locations throughout the town to show that Chester is a thriving and welcoming place to visit, shop, and live.

In addition to last year’s decorated spots – such as the Green walkways, Whiting Library, Post Office, the Chester Depot, the Depot gazebo and Town Hall – new test flower boxes are being built for one of the bridges leading to town, and more planted barrels will appear at the Pinnacle swimming pool.

Businesses and residents are encouraged to make this project a reality by donating to the public effort and/or by purchasing a planter for their own business or property. The cost of each new, planted container is $85, and the cost of replanting a previously purchased planter is $50.

To order a new, planted container or to order the replanting of a pot purchased last year, please contact Tory Spater at 802-875-2952 or tory@vermontel.net. An emailed copy of the order form will be sent to you, but copies of the form are also available at Misty Valley Books and the Whiting Library. The check for a planter and/or a contribution should be made payable to Chester Community Alliance Inc., marked for Chester Townscape in the memo line, and mailed to Chester Townscape, PO Box 561, Chester, VT 05143. Planting of the pots is set for May 27, so early orders will gather the necessary funds to make the planting possible.

Chester Townscape encourages wide-ranging support for this effort and welcomes suggestions of additional sites that would benefit from a planter to help make Chester more appealing and attractive. Please contact Lillian Willis, 802-875-1340, lbwillisct@comcast.net