A 6-year-old girl, adorned with curled hair and a white dress, frolics down the aisle with a basket in one hand and flower petals in the other.
Another is 18, wearing a brightly-colored work vest and stopping her Toro Workman utility vehicle to hose down a landscaped patch or wipe sweat from her brow.
Who is the flower girl?
Turns out, both are.
This summer, six aptly-nicknamed “flower girls” in the Chaska Public Works Department labor away throughout downtown every day, ensuring the things that keep the city lively stay that way.
The seasonal maintenance staff, per their official title, never have a shortage of tasks. The second Minnesota weather agrees with hanging baskets and other landscaping projects, they’re out there working.
ALL IN A DAY’S WORK
Madison Yuza has been working with the department for a few months now. Last summer, she worked concessions at Firemen’s Park. With COVID-19, that job is on hold. So they offered her a city position.
Yuza, a recent Shakopee High School graduate headed to college this year, is filling her summer transition with her flower girl duties — which is to say, a lot of duties.
She and the crew split up and water flowers, fertilizing plants, mow city property and sports fields, weed whip or pull weeds, or work on special projects.
“As a flower girl we kind of do a lot of different things,” Yuza said. “It takes us all day long if it’s just one person.”
Her shifts are usually from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays. Her route, self-described as “kind of going about your day” follows a path through parks, downtown Chaska, a few flower beds outside local businesses, and hanging baskets on various streets.
“The route was pretty easy to pick up on. It’s a pretty self-explanatory job so I really enjoy it. It’s a lot of fun,” Yuza said.
The best perks of the job are coworkers and being outside all day long, she said.
Somewhere in that “all day long,” is breaking for lunch, while another crew stays at Firemen’s Park most of the day to do maintenance and landscaping there. Others mow or weed-whip while another waters. It’s a new assignment every day, something Yuza sees as another benefit.
But the plants and nearby bugs or creatures aren't the only company they have on watering routes. Sometimes people will stop and ask questions, directions, or just complement the easy-on-the-eyes flower baskets, Yuza said.
KEEPING THUMBS GREEN
Behind the six "flower girls" and other seasonal staff is someone who keeps work in front of them.
Selmer Olson, public works foreman, has been in the scene for 15 years. He said the first order of business every year is getting to know staff. After that comes the work itself.
It all started in 2000, with the hanging flower baskets and downtown gardens. On a yearly basis, work starts in the spring with plant layout to get an idea of what goes where, and when. Up next are maintenance projects, like mulching or installing tree rings.
Throughout the season, the workers might tidy up landscape beds around buildings or spaces like the old Ernst House or parking lot green spaces.
All in all, the baskets and annual beds require 350 to 400 gallons of water per day, seven days a week if there’s no rain.
“There’s always something to do,” Olson said.
SEASONS CHANGE
Around 17 seasonal workers, a handful of them flower girls, work in the parks and with the street department all summer. This year’s pandemic has made those projects look a little different, and perhaps a little less in quantity. Olson calls it a “crazy summer.”
A postponed Taste of Chaska and River City Days, when seasonal workers help set up or clean. Less organized sports and events affect the public works team too in terms of mowing sports fields.
“It’s been a lot different this summer,” Olson said. “Usually baseball is ready to go right off the gate as soon as the snow is gone.”
Pandemic aside, the weather can sometimes be the hardest boss to work with in an outdoor job. If there’s a downpour on a weekend, work is off.
But during the week, a little rain never hurt.
Staff may not water flowers in that case, but switch to other tasks, like tending to park shelters or deep-cleaning areas and equipment.
“It’s pretty rare for it to be really, really wet for us to send people home,” Olson said.
YEAR AFTER YEAR
Come late winter, Olson and the public works team start finding crew members to fill seasonal spots.
Plenty of public works staff come from all walks of life, but Olson said this particular seasonal job tends to attract high school seniors or college students.
“It’s a ‘flower girl’ position, but that’s not by any means only hiring girls,” he said, noting a lot of jobs are filled by word-of-mouth through previous employees.
More genders are represented in the Firemen’s Park crew, he said.
But since lots of the seasonal workers are students, turnaround is an issue Olson grapples with year after year.
Even if some stay for three or for years, which tends to happen relatively frequently, he worries he could lose a big chunk of staff one year if they’re from the same class. That would leave few veterans left to train in new folks.
That training involves mowing machines, routes, mechanics, fertilizers and other how-tos.
After that technical aspect is nailed down, staff get to work. But for flower girls like Yuza, it’s a pleasant job.
“A lot of people just kind of ask what I do and if I enjoy it,” she said.
The answer? A resounding “I do — a lot.”
August 07, 2020 at 07:00PM
https://www.swnewsmedia.com/chaska_herald/news/community/flower-power-day-in-the-life-of-a-seasonal-worker/article_4b8ccd1e-07c4-560c-bc67-2de6b64d83af.html
Flower power: Day in the life of a seasonal worker - SW News Media
https://news.google.com/search?q=Flower&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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