Dianne & Dudley Davis will lead the 2009 Citrus Festival Parade
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Published: June 24, 2009
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula Times
A couple devoted to the beautification of Santa Paula who use plants and flowers for lush decoration - Dianne and Dudley Davis - have been selected the Grand Marshals of the 42nd Annual Kiwanis Club Citrus Festival Parade to be held July 18 at 10 a.m. The Davises will lead the East Main Street parade amid the backdrop of their efforts to beautify the city’s historic Downtown.
Parade Coordinator Janet Grant said Dianne and Dudley, owners of Do Right’s Plant Nursery, were honored “because of their beautification of the downtown, their strong interest in sprucing up Main Street and their deep interest in and involvement with the community. They have been very, very involved.”
The theme of the 2009 Citrus Festival is “Sweet Fruit, Sweet Life” and although the Davises deal in flowers and plants, Grant noted, “We have a lot of nurseries in the Santa Clara River Valley... and some fruit and citrus trees do flower!”
Overall, the Davises “went the extra mile in donating flowers and maintaining the flowers and plants in the central business district... it’s a beautiful place. I drive to the downtown sometimes just to see the flowers.”
There is no doubt, said Grant, that Dianne and Dudley will “continue to help beautify Santa Paula.... They are very devoted to the community and involved on many levels.”
Selection as the parade’s grand marshals is not the first time the Davises have been honored. The couple and their beautification efforts were lauded by the Chamber of Commerce when they were awarded the 2008 Beautification Project of the Year.
Dianne and Dudley made the city and the Chamber an offer to hang flower baskets on Main Street, and also plant containers with their quality flowers all over town. Although several citizens had attempted such a project in the past, the Chamber purchased some of the equipment needed for the project and the Davises not only donated the flowers from their own spacious nursery operation west of the city, but also took full responsibility for upkeep.
In spite of all that, Dianne Davis said, “I was really surprised, I don’t how they thought of us” for the Grand Marshals honor. “We’re really looking forward to it and are excited,” but she admitted that at first her husband declined.
“The first time I mentioned it to Dudley he said ‘No way!’ He’s bashful... and I said ‘Come on, let’s do it!’” and he agreed to the honor of leading the 42nd Annual Kiwanis Citrus Festival Parade.
Dianne is active in the Chamber of Commerce, and she and Dudley have been strong and longtime supporters of Santa Clara Valley Hospice/Home Support Group, providing plants for purchase at SCVH/HSG fundraisers and letting their hillside home be featured in this year’s Hospice Homes & Gardens of Santa Paula Tour.
“We love this town,” and the effort to show same by beautifying the downtown business district coincidentally was started for last year’s Citrus Festival. “We came up with the idea of putting yellow” marigolds to reflect the region’s famous lemon orchards in the sidewalk planters, and “from there it moved to the hanging baskets.”
Dianne said the couple has traveled extensively, and “We’ve seen beautiful floral displays in other cities, so we just decided to put it together,” an effort that resulted in 18 hanging baskets dripping with flowers as well as “I don’t remember how many planters on the sidewalks,” including those in front of the Santa Paula California Oil Museum.
The planters are due for new plants: “It’s an ongoing process; plants die, you take them out and pop more” in, done usually twice a year. The hanging baskets are retired for the winter months December to March, as the winds “tear them apart... it’s better to have nothing than something ugly up there.”
The Davises do more than provide the plants: they spend about $1,000 a month in labor costs for the upkeep of the floral displays, including watering every other day. “Our historic downtown is even more beautiful through the Davises’ devotion to Santa Paula,” said Grant. “We’re sure everyone will want to give them a big wave and a smile at our July 18 Kiwanis Citrus Festival Parade!”
