Nome in Bloom: New local nonprofit freshens up Nome

Observant Nomeites may have noticed beautification efforts in public spaces around Nome.
Flowers in dredge buckets, hanging flower baskets along Front Street and brand-new sitting benches are all part of the new local nonprofit “Nome in Bloom’s” mission.
Angela Hansen, the president of Nome in Bloom, describes it as an effort to revitalize and enhance Nome. “[Nome’s] got a lot of potential. We just feel like it could use a little extra shining up, a little extra care,” she said.
Hansen said the idea stemmed from a trip to the Scandinavia last summer. She was impressed by how well maintained and beautiful the buildings and yards were, even at similar latitudes to Nome.  “It just was inspiring to think, ‘Oh, these places are in cold climates, too, and yet they can make it pretty and attractive,” she said.
Hansen pitched the idea to Master Gardener Cheryl Thompson, who for years has planted flowers in dredge buckets around town, Kim Knudsen and Julie Kelso at last year’s Nome Garden Tour.
Their first project last summer as a group, was planting flowers in the dredge buckets at the Alaska Commercial Company Store and at Old St. Joe’s.
The group started holding meetings and officially became a non-profit recently on July 8.
Hansen said they received their first seed money from former Nomeite Kirsten Bey and were awarded a grant from the Rasmuson Foundation. There are about ten members to the group.
As of right now, they’re focused on Old St. Joe’s, Front Street and other spaces, but may expand in the future.
They ordered benches online and set them up around town to give visitors and residents alike a place to sit and admire the flowers and Nome.
Hansen said the benches go “hand-in-hand” with the flowers. “It’s just nice for people to have a place to sit,” she said.
The group also has a plan to reduce the risk of windy weather taking a toll on their beautification efforts on Front Street. Northrim Bank donated the hanging flower baskets along Front Street. But hanging flower baskets get blown around by the wind and the flowers have to withstand harsh weather. “The problem is they’re hard to water being up high, and they dry out and they blow around,” said Hansen.
Cheryl Thompson, another member of the group, has designed planters that Nome in Bloom would like to install along Front Street in place of the hanging baskets. The planters will be about a foot across and three feet tall, easier to reach when watering and less likely to blow around in the wind.
The group didn’t choose the flowers inside the hanging baskets, but they did decide what to plant in the dredge buckets around town. They have a mix of perennials and annuals planted, plants like beach daisies, purple asters, pansies, petunias, snapdragons and more.
“We try to plant in between with annuals because those perennial plants come up quick in the spring and they bloom faster, but then they kind of die down,” said Hansen. “Then the annuals will hopefully come up.”
Thompson said the plants in the dredge buckets are hardy plants that will do well in Nome’s northern climate. “We’ve had a super, super good summer,” she said. “But we’ve had summers where it’s foggy, raining and 45 degrees.”
Angie Gorn and Norton Sound Health Corporation helped get the flowers started so they’d be grown when it came time to plant them in the buckets. The group has worked all summer to maintain the blooms.
Hansen said that they would like to expand their efforts in the future. “This year it just seemed like there was enough just to get us organized and also to really tackle the flowers and planters around town,” she said. “We all are kind of empty nesters now and not so involved with school activities,” she added. “We’re able to take on more to help our community a little more and volunteer in other ways.”
As of right now, they’re focused on the area around Old St. Joe’s and Front Street. Hansen hopes others are inspired and want to help, either in their own yards or by helping beautify Nome’s public spaces. “We hope it would be kind of contagious,” she said. “Other people would want to either help with the efforts we’re already doing or think of their own projects or things they’d like to beautify.”
Right now, the group is looking for volunteers to help with watering plants, planting and weeding. Hansen said the group would especially like help from anyone interested in constructing planters.  Those interested can reach out to Hansen at (907) 466-8448.