Charlevoix's 30 Year Petunia Tradition Up In The Air

Interlochen Public Radio | By Laura Herberg

Published September 25, 2013 at 12:00 AM EDT

Historic petunia planting photo courtesy of the Keep Charlevoix Beautiful Facebook page.

By Laura Herberg The group in charge of all those petunias that line the Charlevoix portion of US-31 is considering changes to the traditional display. Keep Charlevoix Beautiful might switch from organizing the planting of 60,000 flowers in curbside beds to installing 300 hanging plants. Aaron Wilkin, the group's president, says they've been relying on prisoners for weeding. "During the winter/spring we were notified by the county sheriff's department that some state laws had changed making it so we couldn't use the prisoners anymore," says Wilkin. The group organized two volunteer weeding days this year but not enough people showed up, he said. This is despite the fact that 300-to-500 volunteers usually come out to plant the petunias. Wilkin says installing poles for the hanging plants would be costly up front, but watering them would be more efficient and they'd require little to no weeding. He says they hung up some petunias downtown this summer as a kind of test. The board was initially optimistic. "We all thought, 'Wow, these are great. This is going to be a no-brainer to switch over.' [But] as the summer progressed I think we've all kind of gotten a little sentimental with the current petunia display," he says. It's a tradition in its 32nd year. The volunteer who wakes up at dawn to water the plants, Dale Boss, is the man who initially came up with the idea for the petunias. But Boss, in his eighties, could retire in the coming years. And board members estimate replacing his volunteer role would cost around $15,000 a year. Keep Charlevoix Beautiful is seeking feedback in an online survey which can be viewed <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XMYQB29">here</a>. Wilkin says a decision about the display will likely be made within the next month.