OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Embrace Fredonia President Lauren Boyle stands next to one of the fountains in Barker Common, with Village Hall in the background. Embrace Fredonia is a new non-profit looking to enhance and improve quality of life in the village.

Overflowing with love for Fredonia and desire to make it better, Embrace Fredonia and president Lauren Boyle want your help.

The new non-profit group is dedicated to beautifying downtown Fredonia. It had its first brainstorming session last week, and Boyle said the first project — planting flowers around trees downtown — is set to begin.

The group is working with a local greenhouse, using donated supplies and materials, to plant flowers June 4 on Main and Water streets, in Barker Common and near Village Hall.

Boyle credited Fredonia Trustee Jon Espersen for inspiring the group. “He had had this idea of an organization that kind of addressed the wants of the community,” he said. Espersen was constantly getting ideas for community improvement that fall outside of village government’s duties, she said.

Espersen and Trustee Nicole Siracuse approached her about joining the group. “I said, ‘Well, it sounds like everything I would want Fredonia to have.’ I was super excited to be considered to be involved in it.”

Siracuse will act as a liaison between Embrace Fredonia and Village Hall.

Boyle continued, “The mission of Embrace is to really address those wants and needs. We want to partner with business, we want to partner with community members and show them that we truly want to Embrace Fredonia.”

Future projects could include new Christmas decorations and new signage for businesses, she said.

Boyle said Embrace Fredonia will work on “those little touches that make you feel like, ‘Ok, this is where I want to be. This is home.'”

Embrace Fredonia is temporarily a part of Festival Fredonia. “Just to be able to be under their umbrella is really helpful for us until we can obtain our own 501 (c) 3,” Boyle said.

She added that Embrace Fredonia’s projects will enhance village festivals. In the larger picture, they are intended to boost hometown pride.

“I feel that magic (in Fredonia). I talk about it all the time,” said Boyle, a Williamsville native who originally came to the village as a SUNY Fredonia student. “There is magic when you walk through downtown Fredonia… I want everybody to feel that.”

She said of Embrace Fredonia, “I have a feeling that this is going to get big. I think this is going to grow and manifest into something probably much bigger than we are all expecting. It has so much potential.”

Michelle Joy is Embrace Fredonia’s vice president. Kevin Astry is treasurer, Dan Siracuse Sr. is secretary, and Melissa Sorci-Taft and Rich Ryan are board members.

“This is something that I think all of us as board members wanted to see but didn’t have the outlet to do it,” Boyle said.

“We want you to suggest it to us and we’ll help you do it,” she later added. “It’s a really nice partnership and I think it bridges the gap between a lot of different organizations and the village as a whole.”