Spring awakening with Daffodil project

By Carlie Connolly
At the Jan. 12 Redcliff town council meeting, a letter of endorsement was carried for Gillian Slade, chair of the Daffodil committee to plant one million daffodils over 10 years in the region.
The idea for these daffodils came almost a year ago when winter was over but things were still brown and grungy. It was back to the time of year when people wanted to see something green, impatient for spring to come.
“It’s also a time of year when tourists really don’t come to this area, so this is much earlier than that, so its an opportunity to attract tourists at a different time of year,” said Slade.
The Daffodil Project consists of a committee of people in moving it forward. In addition to the committee, Slade is hoping every family will embrace and see the benefit of being involved in a project like this. Redcliff will be working with them to identify areas within town where the public can plant daffodils and help in arranging community planting days.
The first planting will begin this coming fall around September or October. Until then, Slade will be raising funds and looking for people to come on board with the project, along with ordering the bulbs.
The aim is for the daffodils to also bring tourists to the city. They will be planted on either side of the Trans Canada highway from Redcliff to Dunmore.
“It will be a spring event to awaken our senses and bring tourists,” said Slade.
Alberta Transportation is responsible for giving permission of the planting on the highway. For the initial planting, the committee will be working with them on areas along the highway to access from neighbourhoods instead of parking on the shoulder of the highway as that can cause safety concerns.
The goal for the first year is to get people on board and donating money for the bulbs. The cost of individual bulbs will be around 50 cents each, and Slade is hoping for at least 20,000 bulbs planted for this fall.
“We think that with these daffodils blooming each spring, it seems almost inevitable that we’ll create community projects around these days when daffodils are in bloom.”