News Photo by Darby Hinkley

Members of the Alpena Garden Club and Alpena CC Planters beautify the Johnson Street corridor on Alpena Community College’s campus on a sunny Tuesday morning. The group appreciates those who slowed down as they drove by the planters stooped over with their hands in the dirt. They planted marigolds, petunias, geraniums and dusty miller. Jim Cathers did all the rototilling to prep the soil for the flowers. Pictured above are Jan Hopkins on the left and Pam Hand on the right, both Alpena Garden Club members. The group has been planting at ACC for 10 years. Dr. Henry Stibitz got the idea going years ago when his wife, Florence, was on the ACC board. “It was just a hobby of mine that got out of control,” Stibitz said on Tuesday morning as he helped plant the flowers. “Now, we’ve got a well-functioning group here that makes me redundant,” he said with a chuckle.