Community
The Downtown Livingston Business Improvement District (LBID) is proud to announce we have won the first Montana Main Street (MMS) Program’s Best of Show Flower Competition for Hanging Flower Baskets. Livingston's flower basket program has been going strong since 2011 and is funded by assessments of building owners in the Downtown District to complement all the hanging baskets and planters that individual businesses display.
Two years ago, the Downtown District invested in larger low-water hanging baskets and, despite this year’s very hot summer, they were bigger and better than ever! One international visitor remarked, “These are the most beautiful baskets I have seen in any city in the world I have visited.” Funding for the new baskets was raised during Give a Hoot, with Colin and Seabring Davis funding the majority of the new baskets. The LBID is happy to pay it forward by donating our older baskets that served Downtown for over a decade to the town of Forsyth. The Downtown LBID is a proud member of Main Street Montana, submitting quarterly reports about our Downtown economy and projects, and sharing information, experiences, and resources monthly with peers, and at the annual Montana Main Street Conference.
The gorgeous flowers are grown by LBID Contractor Heather Muldoon of Suncatcher Gardens and this year’s flower waterer was Edd Enders. Enders used an average of 115 gallons and spent three hours per day, five days a week, throughout the season. There are even a few baskets up in shadier spots Downtown that are still blooming brightly in October.
The Downtown LBID’s mission is to enhance the vitality of downtown Livingston through collaboration with others to create a welcoming environment by facilitating commerce, enhancing streetscapes, and conducting maintenance, such as emptying sidewalk garbage cans. Their budget of district building owner assessments totals $44,000 per year and is capped at that level until renewal in 2031. Learn more at https://www.downtownlivingston.org/. The Request for Bids is posted on the website for the next 5-year contract for flower growing, due by Halloween.
Thanks to everyone who voted, and the Department of Commerce’s Main Street Montana program. Cheers to our other top competitors: Great Falls and Bozeman came in second and third for hanging baskets, and Flower Planter winners were Great Falls, closely followed by Cut Bank in second place and Roundup in third place. It takes countless hours and dedication to keep Downtowns statewide blooming!
As a Main Street America coordinating program, Commerce’s MMS Program is part of a grassroots network committed to promoting local main streets, creating high-quality spaces and building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. For more information about the MMS Program, visit commerce.mt.gov.