Prettying up Pie Town
Local organization continues yearly ritual of hanging the baskets
Late this morning, 102 baskets were hung across Pie Town, the colorful nickname for Upper Alton, on lamp posts along College Avenue and Washington Avenue. Michael Batchelor of the Upper Alton Association said two posts were taken down over the winter and do not have new arms affixed to them, leaving four extra baskets.
Batchelor, who spoke at this month’s city council meeting regarding his light opposition to the city spending nearly $12,000 for planter pots along Broadway, said that the Upper Alton Association spent around $4,000 at Green Earth Greenhouse in Godfrey for the baskets. This expense was not aided by the City of Alton.
“We are 100% volunteer-based on maintaining them,” he said in a Facebook message. “Neudecker Insurance houses our golf cart volunteer sign-up for a few days or even weeks, and waters them once a day - if not twice - during those really brutal heat waves.”
The Upper Alton Association is always looking for eager volunteers to maintain the baskets by driving around the iconic golf cart folks often see driving along Washington in the warmer months. Again, the sign-up sheet is at Neudecker Insurance, located at 1646 Main St. in Alton. Batchelor warns, however, that signing up is no small promise. Whether someone is sick or not, their shift must be covered, or else the hanging baskets could wither and die, especially in those intense heatwaves.
Through their “Adopt a Lamp Post” program, the Upper Alton Association has received help from other community organizations, such as Pride, Inc., Beautification, and Great Rivers & Routes, which each adopted at least three lamp posts during the fundraiser. The City of Alton does lend its manpower to hang and take down the baskets safely. This has occurred since May 2023, when flower basket hangers were hurt in a collision. Batchelor said that the incident left the entire team hospitalized.
Various city officials were also on hand with the Upper Alton Association this morning, including Fifth Ward Councilperson John Meehan, to hang the chains on each planter basket and stage them.
Most of the planter baskets have already been hung on Washington Avenue, and the team was working on College after lunch. The hanging baskets are free to enjoy, and the Upper Alton Association encourages anyone who has enough dedication to that beautification effort to show up and do the work to volunteer at Neudecker Insurance for a maintenance shift.