Holiday Winter Basket Tradition Continues In Greenwich

GREENWICH, CT — As work setting holiday lights up along Greenwich Avenue continues this week, another local tradition is almost ready for residents to enjoy downtown.

Each year, Greenwich Green & Clean creates baskets packed with greenery and holiday decorations to hang from lampposts along Greenwich Avenue and nearby. (To sign up for Greenwich breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

This year is no different, as Executive Director Mary Hull said all 110 baskets were nearly finished Thursday after two days of work, with Friday set aside mainly for "quality control" and clean up.

Hull and Deputy Director Kanako MacLennan, who has organized the initiative for the past 10 years, worked with a group of volunteers to put the baskets together at Sam Bridge Nursery & Greenhouses in town.

"Everybody here is having a good time," Hull said by phone Thursday. "I love that."

The baskets consist of a variety of branches, including pine and cedar, as well as pinecones, berries and other trimmings, Hull said. The group also makes giant red bows to add an extra bit of holiday cheer to each basket.

"I just enjoy being creative," Hull said. "It's a fun project."

It's a tradition Hull has looked forward to each year for decades, as Greenwich Green & Clean has been putting the hanging baskets together for over 30 years. Each basket takes about 30 minutes to create, and the work is typically done exclusively through volunteer help, Hull said.

As the town continues to grapple with the coronavirus this holiday season, the group found itself short on volunteers for the project earlier this month, however some last-minute advertisements and spreading the word ultimately led to a surge of volunteers just in time.

"It's amazing that just a few advertisements a few days ahead brought in so many people," Hull said. "I couldn't even say yes to [all of them], because there were more people than we needed."

In light of the virus, volunteers were asked to take extra precautions this year. According to Hull, each volunteer was provided with gloves and everyone was required to wear a mask and stay at least 10 feet apart from each other while working on the hanging baskets.

"They're doing a beautiful job for first time designers," Hull said.

Sam Bridge's "team of elves" will soon work to hang the baskets around town, all of which should be set up by Thanksgiving, Hull said.

"Sam is so helpful," Hull said. "He lets us use his greenhouses, he puts [the baskets] up and down without charging. They're so community-minded."

While the baskets are a fun tradition that adds holiday cheer to key areas of Greenwich, Hull also hopes the added decorations will entice residents to support the local businesses in those areas, many of whom have been hit hard this year by the coronavirus crisis.

"For the merchants, as well as the residents," Hull said, "[the baskets] add a tremendous note of joy...it's tradition, its nature, it's a lot of good things all wrapped up in one pretty package."

Alyssa Keleshian Bonomo, who worked on the "Let There Be Lights" initiative to bring holiday lights to Greenwich Avenue with fellow resident Sebastian Dostmann, said the hanging baskets and lights should create a beautiful holiday aesthetic in the area.

"Thanks to the tremendous work by Mary Hull and Grewnwich Green & Clean, the hanging baskets on lampposts are a beautiful compliment to our downtown aesthetic," Bonomo said. "Along with the lights, they create the warmth and spirit that characterizes our downtown charm."

Patch has reached out to the First Selectman's office and Parks and Recreation department for further information.