ANDOVER — Appreciation for a small town and its inhabitants motivated Julie Gribbin to give a gift that is beautifying many places in her area.

Gribbin, the owner of “Foxgloves and Daisies,” an Andover greenhouse and gardening business, will be closing the store and moving back to Pennsylvania soon.

“I love Andover,” she said. “This community has always been very special to me so I thought what could I do to show my love for the town.”

Gribbin decided to give the town hundreds of her flowers to contribute to beautify the town and leave a lasting legacy.

A volunteer flower committee of four formed after Gribbin made the donation to decide where and how the flowers should be dispersed. The committee’s request for volunteer planters prompted 22 to offer their services.

“We broke the 22 volunteers into smaller groups,” said Bath Clarke, one of the flower committee members, “and they started planting the flowers all over town.

“The flowers are very visible in Andover,” she said. “Some of the places the flowers are planted include around the gazebo on the town common, outside the historical society, by the tennis courts, the church, the Andover Elementary School, the town hall, the cemetery, the library and the old historical building in East Andover.”

Attendees at Andover Olde Home Days, which begins Friday, will be able to see Gribbin’s act of kindness.

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