Working with Young’s Plant World and the Prairie Harvest Employment Program as the Downtown Business Association and then with the YBID, they were able to secure funding and the larger scale project was born. Each Spring, Young’s gets busy planting the pots in a separate dedicated greenhouse just for YBID pots. “Donna and her crew from Young’s, plant, grow and care for the pots during the spring, and come June the pots with their beautiful plants are ready to be distributed within the District,” said YBID Executive Director Donna Brothwell, in a release. Once the pots are ready to go, co-ordination with Young’s and Prairie Harvest Employment gets underway.
This year s YBID board will be Councillor Ken Chyz, Phoebe Buckle, Sean Craib-Petkau, Doug Hull, Sandy Kerr, Dave Nussbaumer, Gale Pelletier, Andrew Rae, Lauretta Ritchie-McInnes, Damon Syrota and Bruce Thurston. Donna Brothwell, executive director of YBID, said that like most businesses, they also had to adapt and take different approaches to be successful over the past year. One of the big examples of that philosophy was the Santa Claus Day reverse parade, which had stationary floats which cars moved through. It was a big success, she said, and kept the Christmas tradition moving in the city. “It’s about finding ways to do things through COVID.”