Our Town to distribute wooden cut-out flowers for decoration

ELKINS -- Our Town Inc. is ready once again to help beautify the  streets of downtown Elkins with its annual Community Spring Decorating Event.

Since 2001, the non-profit organization has distributed wooden flowers for area residents to take home and design. Upon their return to Our Town officials, the cut-outs are placed along several downtown city streets for both locals and visitors to enjoy.

"Each year we are blown away by the individual artistic talent that we have in our community," Our Town President Tammy Dolly told The Inter-Mountain Thursday. "Some of the flowers we get back are exquisite, truly beautiful."

The flowers for this year's event will be distributed on Saturday, March 2 from 1-3 p.m. at the Dann Building, which is located on the corner of Davis Avenue and Third Street. The flowers will be handed out on a first come, first serve basis. Any remaining flowers can be picked up on Monday, March 4 from 4-6 p.m. at the same location.

"We are having two pick-up dates for this year's distribution, but rarely is that necessary," said Dolly. "All the flowers are typically gone by the end of the first distribution day. So people are encouraged to come out to that first event if they want to make sure they get a flower."

Groups are welcome to take part in the event, but there will be a limit on how many flowers are distributed to each one.

"Some people come in and want 50 flowers and that's something we really can't accommodate, because it really eliminates a large portion of participants," Doll said. "So smaller groups, say you have 10 people in your group, we are able to accommodate those requests. Or if you have a family with five or six people, we can do that as well."

Our Town, which purchases all the wood used for the flowers, plans on distributing more than 100 for this year's event. The drop-off date for the finished flowers will be March 13 from 4-6 p.m. at the Seneca Mall Atrium.

As a new wrinkle to this year's event, Our Town is adding topiaries that the flowers will be placed on when they are set up this spring.

"Imagine a flower bush in a pot, that will be cut out of wood and will be the base for the flowers," said Dolly. "The flowers will be attached to those bushes and placed around town. We will have some local artist paint and get the topiaries ready for flowers when they are brought back."

The West Virginia Wood Technology Center will one again be cutting out the flowers for this year's event. It will also be handling the design work for all the topiaries.

"The Wood Technology Center is so gracious to provide us with the assistance they give us," Dolly said. "If we didn't have their help cutting out the pieces of wood, we couldn't do this project."

Dolly said none of the many projects Our Town does throughout the year would be possible without its list of volunteers, including Adrianna Channell, Betsy Smith, Richard Smith, Bobbi Trimboli, Brenda Burr-Cantley, Cindy Stemple, Connie Dever, Doug Starcher, Hilda McWilliams, Julie Civillo, Kathryn Allred, Paula Marco, Priscilla Gay, Susie Wagoner, Tara Troastle and Vickie Keller. 

For more information about Our Town or its Community Spring Decorating Event, visit the organization's Facebook page or call 304-636-0415.