Barb Weinrick, a member of the Marquette Beautification & Restoration Committee Inc., plants flowers on Friday as part of the annual Petunia Pandemonium. The event was more limited this year because of the COVID-19 crisis. (Journal photo by Christie Mastric)

MARQUETTE — Call it the “pandemic edition” of Petunia Pandemonium.

Members of the Marquette Beautification & Restoration Committee Inc. and others donned their masks and safety vests and started planting flowers on Friday as part of the MBRC’s annual event.

However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, things were a little different this year.

Typically, hundreds of students from Bothwell Middle School show up to help plant the flowers, but for obvious reasons, participation had to be scaled down this year.

Still, South Front Street and the associated roundabout in south Marquette will be a lot more colorful in the coming months.

Barb Kelly, MBRC vice president and Petunia Pandemonium chairwoman, explained the challenges the committee has faced.

“Financially, we had to cancel our major fundraiser this year,” Kelly said.

That was the committee’s annual garden tour, which she pointed out typically brings in about $3,000 to $4,000 for the committee to help fund Petunia Pandemonium.

“Also looming over us is the fact that (the Michigan Department of Transportation) is going to redesign this stretch of the highway, and we think in 2022 it’s all going to be torn up for the whole summer, or most of the summer,” Kelly said. “So there probably won’t be any Petunia Pandemonium that year while it’s all torn up. That’s the guesstimate right now.

“And we’ve been told that if we want to save any parts of our $100,000 sprinkling system that is in here, then we have to dig them out.”

However, she acknowledged the system’s infrastructure is aging and needs more maintenance as time goes by, so decisions need to be made.

The Michigan Department of Transportation confirmed a rebuild of the road is scheduled for 2022.

“The plantings are a very nice addition there, so MDOT officials will gladly provide them with the opportunity (to) get back in and do plantings as soon as possible,” said Jeff Cranson, MDOT director of communications.

Then there’s the pandemic, which has kept the MBRC from meeting for months. That meant phones, texts and emails were the primary forms of communication, Kelly said.

“For awhile, we didn’t think we could do the project because the state order was that independent greenhouses could not open,” she said.

However, the Harvey-based Nagelkirk Gardens, which Kelly noted is the flower supplier for the project, now has opened, along with other nurseries.

Also, the city of Marquette, fortunately, had allowed the project to go on this year, with one lane of the street closed for safety.

“(Marquette City Manager) Mike Angeli said, ‘You know, I think our city really needs flowers,’ and I said, ‘Well, they do every year, but especially this year,'” Kelly said.

The MBRC took several steps to make Petunia Pandemonium happen this year.

“I didn’t want too many people because I wanted to allow for social distancing and be safe,” Kelly said. “We required masks.”

Also, the committee has eliminated several beds of flowers due to cost and to prepare for future road construction, she said.

The MBRC was able to pay for this year’s Petunia Pandemonium, she noted, because of several factors: financial help from the city, membership dues, a fundraising drive, leftover money from 2019 and reducing the number of flower beds.

The MBRC also received a $400 grant from Keep Michigan Beautiful Inc. “Every little bit helps,” Kelly said.

Annual flowers planted in Petunia Pandemonium this year included cleome, begonias and ageratum, among others.

Barb Weinrick of Harvey was one of the MBRC members who showed up at Friday’s planting.

“I support making Marquette beautiful and this is one of the ways we can do it,” Weinrick said.

The committee was to plant more flowers today.

For more information on the MBRC, visit mqtbeautification.org.

Christie Mastric can be reached at cbleck@miningjournal.net