Walkerton’s BIA and Brockton's Community Improvement Committee are concerned a municipal plan to put crops instead of flowers in downtown Walkerton will dilute their river-based brand.
A delegation at Monday’s meeting asked council to reconsider the move, saying it would not fit with Walkerton’s river-based branding.
Council dismissed their request and pushed on with the initiative, that will see six planters feature corn, soybeans, white beans, wheat, garlic, and potatoes in the downtown core.
Brain Folmer, the chair of the CIC and the owner of a landscaping company, was the lone member of the delegation.
“We’ve spent about five years trying to develop a look and theme for the downtown, of course our concern is we’ve picked the Saugeen River. Our colours are green and blue, we have fish sculptures, there’s a whole river motif,” Folmer told CKNX News, “So to throw in an agricultural element is a lot different, obviously.”
Folmer cited the world-class fishing in the Saugeen River as something that set Walkerton apart from the majority of communities in the area, which lead to the idea of creating a river-based brand.
“No I don’t think six planters will upset their theme,” Councillor Dean Leifso, who lives on a farm near Elmwood, told CKNX after the meeting. “If anything, it accents it.”
Downtown business owner Darren Holm is behind the initiative, who was at the meeting on Monday.
He told council that the businesses he approached about the subject supported him.
Under the initial plan, the pots would feature a matching sign describing what the crop is and how much of it is planted in the area.
