Five years after the devastating blaze, thousands of sunflowers and bouquets line the streets of Talent — signifying ‘hope and resilience’
By Sydney Seymour, Ashland.news
Volunteers put out thousands of sunflowers, along with pink, purple, and orange flowers in over 100 vases on the streets of Talent on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Almeda Fire.
“Our town needs to wake up tomorrow to the beauty,” said organizer Cheryl Lashley, who has lived in Talent for 37 years.
Lashley partnered with Talent Maker City and local volunteers for the third year to continue a tradition that began the day after the fire.
On Sept. 9, 2020, white buckets filled with sunflowers “mysteriously” lined the streets of Talent and Phoenix along with the message, “From fire to flowers,” Lashley said.
Sunflowers represent the “hope and resilience of this town,” she continued, wearing her sunflower earrings and a shirt with sunflowers.
Cutting stems and arranging flowers into mason jars, cans, and buckets, State Rep. Pam Marsh said she came to volunteer because of care, concern, and the symbolism.
“Flowers,” she said, ”are a reminder that we still need to make an opportunity for families that want to come back, to come back.”
Marsh continued, “We’re still doing recovery. We’ve had a lot of rebuilding, but we still have families that haven’t come back. Five years is particularly symbolic because it’s a big number, and it’s a good time to reflect on how much has happened.”
Starting on Talent Avenue, volunteers placed flowers on Main Street down to Gather Cafe — with five times the amount of flowers compared to last year, Lashley said. Dave Russell’s Shop & Farm donated all of the sunflowers and Le Mera Gardens, Pheasant Fields Farms and Sugar Plum Acres donated the assortment of other flowers.
Willow McCloud, from Talent Historical Society, said the flowers are like “a big group hug.” She hopes they remind residents “it’s not all smoke and doom and gloom.”
Lashley continued, “We’re not discounting the PTSD. I’ve heard from many people that they can’t do anything on the anniversary, but this brings some hope to a lot of us.” She said others should take care of themselves and stay inside if they need to. Those who go outside can drive around and see the flowers.
“It’s really just a labor of love,” Lashley said, adding a few more flowers to the vases in case of gusts of wind.
Bouquets are free for anyone to take on Monday. Flowers will also be placed in Phoenix by local volunteers on the morning of Sept. 8.
Email Ashland.news Snowden intern Sydney Seymour at sydneyseymourr@gmail.com.
