MARQUETTE — In the summer of 1988, Barbara Kelly and about 40 other volunteers worked steadily through a nasty thunderstorm planting petunias in the very first Petunia Pandemonium.
Now, 20 years later, a crew of about 500 volunteers are getting ready to plant about 23,000 flowers during the 20th annual Petunia Pandemonium this weekend.
Kelly laughed as she reminisced about the inaugural event.
“We couldn’t plant all the flowers because it was thundering and lightning so we planted some and then we just let them sit out and over the next week people from the town came out and planted flowers,” she said. “That was the first year.”
Kelly said in 1988 the Marquette Beautification and Restoration Committee was looking for ways to beautify the south entryway to Marquette. She said she got the idea for planting petunias from a promotional video that highlighted a petunia project in downstate Charlevoix.
“It was like a light went on and I thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s what we need to do,’ ” she said.
Kelly said the project has helped to transform the south entrance to downtown Marquette.
“It’s pretty exciting to see what’s happened over the years, the transformation ... it’s helping to transform that part of town.”
She said about 21,000 people enter the city on South Front Street each day.
“A lot of people see our project and for a lot of people, it’s their first introduction to Marquette,” she said.
Since its inception, the petunias used in the event have come from the local nursery and landscaping business Meister’s, Kelly said.
“They have been fabulous to work with,” she said.
The project couldn’t take place every year without the hard work of volunteers, she said.
“I want to thank the community for their work and tremendous support they have shown,” she said. “It’s been a wonderful process.”
The pandemonium planting will begin at 10 a.m. Friday in Marquette when 300 Marquette Area Public Schools students will plant flowers on the east side of U.S. 41 South.
Plantings will continue at 10 a.m. Saturday from Furnace Street to Jackson Street along U.S. 41 South on the west side of the road.
The traffic lane closest to the planting beds will be closed for safety. Plants and directions will be provided.
Volunteers should wear old clothes and apply sunscreen and bring trowels for planting. Ice cream cones will be available at the Beef-A-Roo Restaurant for volunteers during the planting.
A picnic lunch with pizza, cookies and beverages will be held on the lawn of Family Wellness Chiropractic next to Beef-A-Roo following the planting — about 11:15 a.m. Saturday.
Very young children and their parents will be given individualized planting instructions in the flower bed directly in front of the Family Wellness Chiropractic. Volunteers not already assigned to a flower bed should report to any flower bed with a plot captain. Plot captains will wear orange vests. Beds with no plot captain have already been adopted.
This 20th planting of Petunia Pandemonium, chaired by Kelly, coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Marquette Beautification and Restoration Committee. For more information, about Petunia Pandemonium or the committee, call 225-5077 or visit www.mqtbeautification.org.
Petunia Pandemonium is Marquette’s largest Adopt-a-Park project and is taken on annually by the committee through the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Adopt-A-Highway program.
