Irvine Womens Institute continues to beautify hamlet

Nada Krejci and Charmaine Wood pictured here with one of the cement planters.

By Justin Seward

Commentator/Courier

Since the early 2000s, the Irvine Womens Institute has continued to find ways to beautify the hamlet.
When the Irvine Womens Institute was formed in 2001, the group took over the Bench Show, then a community association was formed and they did the upkeep of the planters before the association dissolved.
Now fast forward into 2019, the community beautifying initiative has continued on annually.
Organizers are able to utilize the new cement planters that Cypress County built last year to plant 36 flowers per box.
“Everybody likes to see flowers,” said initiative organizer Nada Krejci.
“I think this is beautiful and I like to see it grow and get bigger and nicer.”
Charmaine Wood is another helper and says “We wouldn’t want the town to look ugly. We like it to look nice.”
“We like to encourage people to do their own properties nice. But this is for the whole town.”
The Irvine Women’s Institute has had to plant new seeds every year and do receive donations as well do their own fundraising to cover the rising plant costs.
Krejci goes everywhere to buy the flowers.
“Petunias really do well here,” said Krejci.
“But this year we thought we would try Dahlias because they’re so pretty. This is the first year we’ve tried something like this. But Petunias, they’ll just come and grow and cover the whole thing.”
Marigolds have also been added to brighten the boxes up, she added.
While Krejci does most of the planting and Wood does the watering, volunteers are always welcomed to help out with either duty.
“I hope more people will come out and donate some of their time,” said Krejci.
“I have a busy life but I still come and do it. I make up my mind that I’m going to do this, this time and I go and do it.”
“If the younger generation could step in, they (may)have different ideas and they can do different things maybe better than me because they see things differently.”
The Women’s Institute still does their charity raffle, Yard Smart awards to those Irvine residence who had well groomed yards and have prizes for best Christmas lights.
If you are interested in donating or helping with the community beautifying initiative, please contact Lou-Wanda Whaley at (403) 952-7617.

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