Myslavelake.com

M.Partington-Richer

The plethora of prolific petunia-filled baskets that have become the trademark of Slave Lake’s downtown every summer could start to take on a reduced if not wilted look if the Kinettes can’t get some help in paying for the more than 120 flowering baskets.

So says a release from committee spokesperson Terry Pukanich. She explains the fund that has kept the community’s Main Street blooming for the past 15 years is only half filled – or half empty – this year. That’s why the Kinettes are asking the community to help keep the project alive, healthy and in full bloom!

But they’re not about to pull the plug on this beautification project without notice.

Pukanich says if this request isn’t successful; the Kinettes will first scale back the program by one pot per post. That is, the Main Street poles that have been adorned with two pots of flowers will likely only have one in coming years. She says that while the Kinettes do have funds to help pay for the hanging baskets, it’d mean taking away from other community projects that the Kinettes have supported in recent years.

That said, however, “It would be highly unlikely that the project would go bust.”

The former Kinettes president says each year for the past decade and a half, the Kinettes have been co-ordinating the purchase and hanging of the some 121 pots – plus a few extra purchased by businesses. The Town of Slave Lake has generously kicked in an annual $2,500 contribution, plus it pays for the summer student who waters the pots daily to keep the posies prolific.

The baskets cost $120 apiece, says Pukanich and the Kinettes and their helpers do the rest – collecting and hanging the petunia-filled peat pots in the early summer then taking down and emptying the pots in the fall.

Donations can be mailed to the Kinettes at Box 1069 in Slave Lake, or dropped off at the Slave Lake Dental Clinic on Main Street, Slave Lake.