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Christmas Angels: Memory Gardens ladies

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KENNEBUNK — With the help of these Christmas Angels, Kennebunk’s downtown and Lower Village have the finishing touch that they need to pop.

“I like a lot of color,” said Joanna Sylvester of Memory Gardens, who with Julie Dunlap works through the spring, summer and fall to landscape and line the downtown with colorful, vibrant plantings throughout the seasons. “Even if they’re not flower people, they respond to color and I think it’s done the job. We’re just lucky to be a part of it.”

This is Memory Gardens’ second season beautifying the downtown. The company started as a retail greenhouse and transformed into landscaping, planting, pruning and otherwise beautifying local businesses and residences, Sylvester said. She has been doing the landscaping for Kennebunk Savings for the past 12 years, Sylvester said, before taking on Main Street, under a long-term contract with the town.

The ladies also fill the dories in Lower Village and plant flowers along the Mathew J. Lanigan Bridge. This fall, the women planted the flowers along the bridge three times after they were vandalized. An anonymous donor paid for the flowers.

“For me, it’s a dream job. A lot of people probably think I’m crazy,” Sylvester said.

In the spring, summer and fall, Sylvester and Dunlap can be found on Main Street from the all-too-early morning to late afternoon, rain or shine, working to keep the finishing touches of the downtown perfect. In Lower Village, they work between 4 and 6 a.m. to beat the traffic.

Sylvester said passerbys often honk and wave in support of their work.

“One woman said I used to walk down on the beach, now I walk down Main Street,” Sylvester said. “I consider it an honor. It makes me want to work even harder. It inspires you.”

Linda Johnson of the Kennebunk Downtown Committee said, “all we get is compliments” about the landscaping work.

“The timing worked well with the revitalization of the downtown,” she said. “It was a no-brainer adding Joanna and Julie to the mix of the downtown. They make it look so easy. It’s a seamless process and we don’t even have any snags.”

Looking at the revitalization of the downtown, Johnson said the landscaping and plants add the finishing touch and that she “couldn’t be more proud.”

“Downtown is everything to me, and this just adds a whole new level,” she said.

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