Bloom Team
Awardee: Downtown Aberdeen Association
Award: Organizational Excellence
Year: 2024
City: Aberdeen
The Organizational Excellence Award is an award that recognizes excellence in building a strong downtown revitalization organization while achieving consensus and cooperation among stakeholder groups. The Downtown Aberdeen Association has been named the 2024 Organizational Excellence Award recipient for its hard-working Bloom Team, cheering up downtown Aberdeen.
As a rural community whose identity and economy were for many decades centered around the timber industry, Aberdeen saw economic opportunities become scarce after the closure of its mill. These changes also affected residents’ sense of pride. But in 2014, two residents by the names of Bobbi McCracken and Bette Worth approached the city’s Parks and Recreation director with an idea to spruce up the image and mentality of downtown Aberdeen through a downtown beautification program, and the Bloom Team was born. Bobbi and Bette began recruiting additional volunteers and launched a letter campaign to raise funds.
A decade later, the partnership with Parks and Rec is still in place, and the Bloom Team is a core program of the Downtown Aberdeen Association. Bloom Team volunteers plant and maintain 150 hanging baskets and 120 sidewalk pots that are vibrant in all four seasons. Pink flowers are now a downtown Aberdeen trademark, as are the pink vests worn by the enthusiastic and volunteers. The Bloom Team doesn’t view the flowers as a Band-Aid to the very real challenges facing the district but rather a visible symbol of civic pride and an invitation to come together to care for the community.
“Bobbi and Bette’s leadership over the years has set a tone in downtown Aberdeen,” noted Washington State Main Street Program Director Breanne Durham at the Excellence on Main ceremony. “With a clear purpose to strengthen community bonds, create welcoming opportunities for others to get involved, and show appreciation to fellow volunteers, Bobbi and Bette have planted a lot of flowers and seeds of hope.”