Flowers and Street Sign Back UP in Downtown Acton

In a move that shows that summer is nearly here, the Downtown Acton BIA planted their flowers this week as well as resurrected the Acton Street signs. The BIA manages roughly thirty planters, another thirty hanging baskets, eight window boxes and three gardens. The planting takes several days with all the planters needing to be weeded and topped up with soil. Then, the actual flowers can be planted. The flowers need to be watered everyday once they are planted or hung and require other additional maintenance over the season including fertilizing and deadheading. The work was made possible through time volunteered by local business owners and community members, including BIA Vice-Chair Monica Parker-Galway and Ward One Councillor Michael Albano, and Halton Hills Electric. The flowers were supplied by the Flowershed and owner Julie Speck.Halton Hills Electrical put up the Town of Acton signs which the hanging baskets are hung on. Flowers have been put up for many years in Downtown Acton and other communities to make the areas they occupy brighter and to encourage residents to visit those areas for recreational and commercial reasons. Last year, due to budgetary reasons, the Downtown Acton BIA was not able to plant the same number of flowers they historically had. This year, the full number of flowers were planted. The Town of Halton Hills also supported the flower planting effort by paying for the planter flowers—a move they repeated for the Georgetown BIA—to raise moral after the COVID-19 pandemic started. “We’re happy to have the flowers planted” said Downtown Acton BIA Coordinator Alex Hilson. “Last year, when we were not in a position to plant all our flowers, we heard from businesses and residents that the planting of the flowers is important for our community. This year, it is even more so with all the challenges we have faced”. The downtown flowers are maintained throughout the summer and taken out in the fall.