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It has now been three decades since the Flower Basket Program has made downtown Austin a beautiful place to visit in the summer, and it doesn’t look to be stopping anytime soon.

Organizers of the program gathered downtown to celebrate the tradition and to kickoff its annual fundraiser. The program receives its funding from three sources — the City of Austin, donations from Hormel and donations from local people and businesses.

Last year, there were over 110 local donors.

The goal for this year is to raise $15,000.

“We want to say thank you to anyone who’s donated and If anybody’s looking for a Christmas present, you can donate flowers in someone’s honor,” organizer Bonnie Rietz said.

Savile Lord of the SPAM Museum said that the Flower Project is always noticed by out of town visitors. 

Besides the summer flowers, the project also brightens downtown Austin with winter decorations and fall potted flowers as well.

“As we bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors to Austin to celebrate the SPAM Museum and the SPAM brand, I cannot tell you the number of people who comment on how beautiful our downtown looks,” Lord said. “It makes it so warm, it makes it so inviting and it’s such a pleasure to look at every day.”

Nick Novotny of IMPACT Austin said the project has helped keep the theme of Austin being a welcoming community.

“We’re looking to make Austin a more welcoming place and having a really vibrant place with flowers in the summer, along with fall and winter displays make it very welcoming,” he said.

You can donate to the flowers by writing a check to the city of Austin and sending it to city hall at 500 4th Ave NE. Be sure to write “flowers 2025” in the memo line. Donations via credit card may also be made over the phone  by calling city hall at 437-9940.