Flower baskets brighten downtown scenery

Downtown Carson City streets are lined with baskets growing red geraniums, cascading petunias, purple verbenas and other colorful flowers.

The city hopes the 82 privately-sponsored flower baskets were placed Thursday will help draw people downtown as summer concerts, farmers' markets, bike rides and other activities begin. Another 10 baskets will be installed Wednesday.

The Carson City Downtown Consortium, a citizen and business group started by the city, will maintain the flowers this summer.

Karen Abowd of the consortium scheduled times for volunteers to water the baskets Friday.

She said the group is "cooking along" with the project that more than doubles the number of flower baskets in downtown last summer.

"I think they add curb appeal," Abowd said. "It makes the town more attractive so that it promotes people wanting to stop, get out of their cars and walk around, which is good for business. All good."

Ralph Marrone of Carson City said he is watering the flower baskets as a way "to give back to the community."

He said he likes everything about the project.

"It's the way it's going to look in a month's time when the baskets are overflowing with flowers," he said. "In the summertime, people will be driving up and down Carson Street and Curry Street and see all this here and the flower baskets. They're going to call Carson City, instead of a 'tree city,' a 'flower city.'"

Chad Mena, owner of Bella Fiore Wines downtown, said the baskets look great and he hopes to see more in the city.

He said the summer will be good for downtown business following the rush from the Legislature.

"Everything is looking really good ... Throughout Carson in general we got a lot of new business which is good for the economy," he said.

Tom Donaldson of Carson City volunteered to help water the flower baskets Sunday morning. He called them a nice addition to downtown.

"I got an e-mail the other day that they needed help to keep the flowers alive," he said, "and I thought, 'What the heck? I'll help out.'"