Bonnyville's main street is looking a little greener these days, and not just because of all that rain in May.
The town's main drag, 50th Avenue, was greened up last week with the installation of new trees, planted into square holes cut into the street's sidewalks between 52nd and 47th Streets.
The trees are an initiative of Bonnyville's downtown enhancement committee.
As of last Wednesday, about 26 trees had been planted at a cost of roughly $400 per tree.
Some of the new greenery stretches close to the 18-foot range.
The installation of decorative grates around the trees is expected a little later this summer, said Katherine Currie, the town's director of planning and the town staffer who works with the community's downtown revitalization committee.
The new greenery reflects the “Downtown Alive” theme of the downtown revitalization plan, Currie noted.
“We've had a lot of compliments and feedback,” Currie said last week, prior to completion of the planting of the 26 trees.
The committee's decision to install the trees in sidewalk cutouts was made after consultations with the business community last fall. The tree plan aims to provide an aesthetically balanced looked, Currie said.
“The vertical of the trees really gives height to the downtown area,” she added.
Thinkwerx owner Kelsey Brennan, a downtown enhancement committee member and a 50th Avenue business owner, said he's already heard positive feedback on the trees, and that the new greenery changes the atmosphere somewhat downtown.
“Five or 10 years down the road those trees are going to be really prominent,” Brennan said.
The project is being paid for with cash from a town reserve fund left over from when sidewalks were redone in the 1990s, Currie said, but the town is also selling sponsorships of the trees and decorative grates that will cover the sidewalk holes. The grates cost about $1,300 each, and are being supplied by Home Style Wrought Iron Art Gallery in Bonnyville.
Information on sponsoring trees and the decorative grates can be obtained by calling Currie at the town office at 780-826-3496 or e-mailing her at [email protected].
