American Theatre Company's Bud Sartain (from left), Paddy Harwell and Ed Durnal show off the organization's landscaping and the steel sculpture of a flowerpot they won in the Downtown Digs Flowers contest. The theater group improved the exterior appearance of its new building at Third Street and Lansing Avenue before moving in. STEPHEN PINGRY / Tulsa World
Faded paint and boarded windows marked the old machine shop that would become American Theatre Company's headquarters in downtown's East Village District.
Out front, where an elm tree grew from a narrow cut in a parking lot, roots spread and cracked the surrounding pavement.
None of that sat well with Paddy Harwell and other members of the theater group.
"The whole thing is trying to be a good neighbor," she said. "We want it to look nice."
The group bought the building at 308 S. Lansing Ave. last September and painted its exterior before even contemplating moving in.
They repaved the driveway and parking lot next, leaving a much larger hole for their tree's roots. But that also left an empty patch of dirt.
So they filled it.
"We tried to landscape it to make it look pretty with flowers," Harwell said.
The display was enough to win the Downtown Coordinating Council's inaugural Downtown Digs Flowers contest, a beautification effort that pitted downtown districts and businesses against each other beginning in April to plant the best-looking flowers and landscaping.
Judges from the Tulsa Garden Center put American Theatre Company's entry ahead of six other businesses early this month.
The Brady Arts District, which competed as a group of businesses, won in a separate category for downtown districts against the East Village District, the only other entry in the category.
Coordinating Council Manager Tom Baker hoped for more entries, but he said the contest did its job.
And more businesses should participate next year, he said.
"I think in their areas they made a lot of difference," Baker said. "They beautified the area."
The winners each won a small steel sculpture of a flowerpot from Garden Diva Sculpture Co.
The American Theatre Company entry included potted flowers and ones planted in the ground, with petunias, black-eyed Susans - similar to sunflowers - and daylilies. The group will plant new flowers each season, with new fall flowers coming soon.
The goal is to maintain a colorful display year-round, if possible, Harwell said.
Other contest participants included the Rusty Crane, a Brady District restaurant that added flowers around its patio area, and a business that put flowers in a window display.
"We had some nice entries down in Brady," Baker said.
Downtown Digs Flowers contest
Participants: nine, including two districts
Winners: American Theatre Company (individual), Brady Arts District (district)
Zack Stoycoff 918-581-8486
zack.stoycoff@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Theater group wins landscaping award
