Founded in 1978, the Marquette Beautification and Restoration Committee had a dual purpose from the beginning: pursuing landscaping and historic preservation projects, said Barb Kelly. Kelly, one of the original members, is now vice-chair of the committee.
She gave a presentation at the committee’s recent meeting outlining some of the group’s history and accomplishments as it heads into its 30th year.
“We were at first just going to be a beautification committee, but there was a lack of historic preservation going on at that time,” Kelly said. “So that’s something we wanted to do from the start.”
Since then, the group’s members have been involved in a long list of improvement projects.
The committee were the first organization to plant trees in what is now Mattson Lower Harbor Park. Members also provided planters on Washington Street during the downtown restoration project in the 1990s, and raised community interest in preserving and restoring the Landmark and Rosewood buildings.
“One of the things I’m most proud of with this committee is that we’ve always taken the high road,” Kelly said.
She credits the group’s success to doing a lot of research on projects and focusing on a positive and polite approach.
“It’s not like we’ve ever made a list of the 10 ugliest buildings in Marquette; we prefer to give awards to the ones who are doing it right and improving their property,” she said.
Annual beautification awards are given by the committee to citizens and businesses. Its other long-standing traditions include a spring cleanup, bulb sale and garden tour.
The committee’s annual Petunia Pandemonium project along U.S. 41 South in Marquette also is a long-running effort, begun in 1988 in response to the weedy curbs that greeted visitors.
“We had been trying to think of something to do in south Marquette for two years,” Kelly said.
The city commission agreed to provide matching funds and the project has expanded ever since.
But the group hasn’t always been successful in its preservation efforts. Despite community support and work by the committee, Northern Michigan University’s historic Longyear Hall and the old Marquette County poor house at Brookridge were torn down.
Still, another Marquette landmark is on the committee’s list for restoration this summer. The Father Marquette statue on South Front Street will be lighted and missing pieces on its relief panels will be restored with money from the committee, Kelly said.
The park surrounding the statue also is scheduled to be cleaned up, lighted and made more accessible, she said.
“We want to make it a more prominent feature,” Kelly said.
Other 30th anniversary projects planned include a public schools poster contest, a celebration dinner, a new planting day T-shirt and an anniversary flower.
