He expects the project will require about $200,000 for all of the flower pots and the flowers. It would be run by a committee of people, five or six people. “I already have two outstanding ladies who have a passion for flowers and who have experience in landscaping.”
Dick Gordon proceeded to show me an engineer’s layout of the Gordon family’s plan for the bridge. The renderings are amazing.
He said, “The Bridge of Flowers will have an intent to change to a fall foliage, then change over in the spring to flowers.”
“(Noblesville Mayor) Chris Jensen gave me his approval last December of this idea,” he said. “Then I found out a week later that the county owned the bridges. Then the first of January, I had a meeting with the county commissioners who gave me their approval then.”
To buy the flowers, it may cost about $25,000. “The big thing is watering them,” he said.
“We would want this to be beautiful at all times,” he said.
Dick Gordon said, “We’re in the process of going down the road with this project, but now are waiting on a couple of things from the City (of Noblesville) to see how they’re going to water them. That seems to be the biggest thing that we’ve got to overcome.”
Parks director Brandon Bennett at a May meeting said he likes the idea but sees ongoing maintenance as a concern. He said resources of maintenance need to be confirmed. Bennett also said while the elements would not be permanently installed, they must be secured to prevent vandals from throwing them into the river.
Brenda Myers of Hamilton County Tourism at that meeting in May said the idea fits within the White River Vision Plan and could be phase I of a multi-phase plan.