MUMS plant, tend flowers along Colfax Main Street

Cherry Alice Van Tine and Elaine McClintock

Water slaps the sidewalk as Cherry Alice Van Tine reaches a dripping hose out of an aging water truck to basket after basket of flowing wave petunias.

“This is a pretty one,” said Van Tine.

“You’re missing my plant,” Elaine McClintock said from behind the wheel.

“No, I’m not,” Van Tine replied, redirecting the hose into a pot.

The red pickup truck making its way through downtown Colfax is run by MUMS, a handful of locals who work together to maintain the pots of petunias hanging downtown, largely through community donations. MUMS stands for Moms Undertaking Main Street.

“They’ve been blooming their little hearts out all summer,” McClintock said.

McClintock and Van Tine started this project six years ago.

It is a project that has been pieced together by locals, run by locals and enjoyed by locals. The MUMS get to use of the truck from Brian Winsor.

The basket hooks which are attached to trees planted at Colfax intersections were made by Ernie Miller.

LM Sign Design created the banner sign which adorns the back of the truck to warn motorists of the frequent stops.

Rosauers donated the planting dirt for the flowers.

Every year, when the flowers are done, the MUMS volunteers take all the pots up to Bob and Donna Ingalls at Steptoe to be stored over the winter.

Most days in the summer, the truck can be seen in the early morning or late evening plugging up Main Street and stopping at each basket.

The duo waves at people they know every few blocks and at one point jokingly threatens to spray one of their friends on the corner.

They have to stop in a lane of traffic to reach the baskets. They have so far had no accidents, but there have been “a few close calls,” McClintock reported.

Van Tine and McClintock attended a Colfax city council meeting Sept. 8 to show the council curbside places where Colfax could be improved.

“We just took pictures all around town,” McClintock said, pointing out that they have a general interest in keeping the town looking good.

Every spring, the women order the flowers from an out-of-town company, then transplant them to the pots when the weather is warm enough. MUMS members alternate the driving chores in the red truck.

“No road rage that we are aware of,” said Van Tine happily as they stopped once more in the traffic lane.