NEWPORT – A combination of downtown businesses, the town and the Sebasticook Garden Club has Main Street in bloom this summer.

“We’re trying to keep Newport looking nice,” said Paula Graham at Towne and Country Gift Shoppe, who is credited with organizing the downtown’s new display of hanging flower baskets.

Graham explained Monday that when the idea first developed among downtown businesses, she had hoped to have the plants hung on lampposts; however, the poles weren’t strong enough to hold the flourishing baskets. Expecting a few people to participate, Graham was overwhelmed by the solid support for the effort.

“We had a lot more businesses interested than we expected,” she said. “From the bridge to the Newport Inn, we’ve hung 19 baskets on all the buildings.”

The town purchased the moss-lined baskets, and Countryside Greenhouses agreed to fill them. It fell to Graham and her husband, Brian, to hang the brackets and baskets.

In the fall, the baskets will be retrieved and held by the greenhouse to be refilled next year, she said. While the project was limited this year to Main Street, Graham hopes it can include side streets in the business district next year.

Each business assumed responsibility for maintaining the plants at its location, although Graham can be seen trudging the streets early in the day making sure each one gets a dose of fertilizer.

“I want to see them touching the ground before the summer is over,” she said of the new pots and petunias. “I want people to see what a pretty town we have here.”

Complementing the baskets is the traditional work of the Sebasticook Garden Club, which has filled large planters on the bridge and Main Street.

“They’re just perfect this year,” said Graham of the larger planters filled with pink Supertunias and yellow daisylike flowers.

The garden club buys flowers and fills the large planters each year, according to club member Terry Crosby. The businesses help water planters near their shops or offices, but Crosby takes care of the planters on the bridge.