Milledgeville Main Street hosted the Adopt a Planter program and has worked with the community to adopt out all 52 planters in downtown.
Milledgeville has seen a staff shortage recently due to the impact of COVID and other issues. Milledgeville Main Street took notice of the difficulty the short staff was having to maintain the planters and decided that the community should be offered the resources to help.
“As Milledgeville Main Street, one of our four points that we focus on is design. That has to do with the look and feel of downtown,” said Carlee Schulte, director of Milledgeville Main Street/Downtown Development Authority. “So, we decided to let the community infuse the planters with beautiful new plants.”
The program was first opened up to businesses downtown since many of the planters resided in front of businesses. After a short amount of time, the program was then opened to the public. Adopting a planter allowed the adoptee to pick the plants, plant them, and submit photos for the Milledgeville Main Street social media pages.
“We wanted to allow people to have the creative freedom to make their own planter and they are looking beautiful,” said Schulte. “It’s really neat to see what different organizations, individuals and businesses came up with to make their planter unique.”
During the process of adopting, Amanda Greene, the event coordinator of Milledgeville Main Street, was in charge of advertising and accepting forms to adopt the planters. She expressed great satisfaction and excitement in how fast the planters were adopted out.
“As of July 7, all the planters have been adopted out,”said Greene. “It’s just amazing to see the amount of community support that has come out in this project.”
Every planter will be receiving a plaque with the individual, business, or group name that adopted it. The plants are expected to be watered by the city, however, adoptees are expected to keep check on the plants as well to maintain their beauty and longevity.
“We plan to have everyone replant right before Deep Roots in October so that we can have our downtown looking beautiful for “Milledgeville’s biggest day,” as I say,” Schulte said.
Milledgeville Main Street hopes that the Adopt a Planter program will keep downtown beautiful and full of lush plants that will attract customers to businesses, be great photo-ops and be good sights for visitors to the city.
“I’ve already noticed people out there taking pictures with their children or using them as backgrounds of their photos to have a ‘pop’ in their photos,” said Greene. “That’s what we are aiming for. Downtown just looks better and beautiful.”
Milledgeville Main Street wishes to thank the individuals, groups, businesses and schools who graciously volunteered their time and the cost of the plants. One planter out of the 52 will be chosen to win the “Milledgeville Main Street Green Thumb Award” for the 2022-2023 Adopt A Planter Program. For more information about the Adopt A Planter Project or how to get involved, contact Milledgeville Main Street by phone at 478-414-4014 or by email mainstreetdesk@milledgevillega.us.