Albion Village Board, downtown merchant recognized for landscape efforts
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The Albion Betterment Committee on Wednesday presented a landscape award to the Albion Village Board for its support of flowers in the downtown and on Main Street. The Village Board, in turn, presented a citation to village resident and downtown business owner Lisa Stratton, who coordinates the efforts to have flowers in the downtown and organizes volunteers to have them watered on the weekends.
Pictured, from left, include: Joe Gehl, a director with the Betterment Committee; Lisa Stratton, president of the Albion Merchants Association; Eileen Banker, Albion mayor; and Gary Derwick, a director with the Betterment Committee.
The Betterment Committee said the flowers are a real positive in the business district for the community.
“It’s a real effort by the village and by some individuals,” Derwick said.
The Betterment Committee in the past five years has presented landscaping awards to Burger King, Albion Agencies, Suburban Electric and Christopher Mitchell Funeral Homes.
In the citation for Stratton, the Village Board stated that she is “an exceptional person, who is worthy of the esteem of the community.” The board said that Stratton spends “countless hours” planning events, promoting businesses, and organizing the downtown flower effort in planters and hanging baskets.
Stratton organized having flowers planted in these planters by the municipal parking lot for the first time this year.
