Spruce Up Austin, Inc., plans to complete a South Main Street beautification project soon and assist enhancements outside the Hormel Historic Home.

In addition, the organization has a prominent addition to make to the Honoree Tree Registry.

Mike Ruzek, project leader, told members at a meeting Oct. 8 the second phase of the South Main Street Project will be completed Saturday, Oct. 24.

A design plan submitted by Brian Dolan has been accepted and will be implemented by volunteers from SUA and the Windom 4H club.

“The plans will emphasize color and a year-round look,” Ruzek said. “The plantings will include two concrete planters, techni-arbor vitae, blue oats grass, blue spruce and dogwood trees.”

Dolan’s Landscape Center, Inc. workers will assist in site preparations.

The Austin Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department’s Tom Graff will be the liaison for the city.

The project enhances an area at the intersection of South Main street and Eighth Avenue Southeast near Austin Rotary Centennial Park, where SUA volunteers planted 20 trees in April to commemorate the 20th anniversary of community betterment efforts.

The second phase will be anchored by a planter moved from a traffic island in front of the former Burr Oak Manor Nursing Home (now an apartment complex) in northwest Austin.

The Windom 4H club created the original plantings and maintained the site until it was moved to accommodate city street improvement work.

“The Windom 4H club’s commitment to the project at the new site will be vitally important to the appearance through the years,” Ruzek said.

SUA and Windom 4H volunteers will assemble 9 a.m. Oct. 24 to undertake the final phase of the anniversary project, according to the project leader.

Also Oct. 24, SUA volunteers will plant 10 Techni-Arbor Vitae at the eastern edge of Hormel Historic Home Property.

The former mansion of George A. and Lillian Hormel, and their son, Jay C. Hormel, is in the final stages of a major expansion project.

Honoree trees

The organization’s directors also announced that Betty Wescott will be honored with a tree planting at the Wescott Athletic Complex, named for her husband Ray Wescott. Mrs. Wescott died last week at age 95.

SUA’s Honoree Tree Registry allows people to have a tree planted in memory of a loved one on public property.

The program has been in existence since 1995. Names of the honorees are listed on a registry in a kiosk along Mill Pond Pathway in Horace Austin Park.

Not only can departed loved ones be honored, but trees are also planted to honor the living.  All tree plantings are made with appropriate donations.

According to Ruzek, the Austin High School Friends and Alumni Association will sponsor the Betty Wescott tree planting.

The organization’s directors also approved two honoree tree replanting projects.

Dan Ulwelling, the popular Austin businessman who died in 2006, had two trees planted at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center, with donations from relatives and friends.

“Apples were his favorite fruit and the honey crisp apple tree was his favorite tree,” Ruzek said. “The nature center was a favorite place of his.”

The trees have been destroyed by deer, but two new trees will be planted in Ulwelling’s memory with protective fencing.

The Friends of the J.C. Hormel Nature Center will be asked to share the cost of the replantings, according to the SUA agreement.

Still another honoree tree planting to recognize former Austin mayor John O’Rourke will also take place.

For more information about the SUA Honoree Tree Registry program, call Gretchen Ramlo at 433-2911.