For decades IDOC has helped bring beauty to the Illinois State Fairgrounds

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - It's a year-long process to get the flowers and landscaping done at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

In April, Jerry Morgan, landscape supervisor, and a team from the Illinois Department of Corrections will head out to the fairgrounds to plant flowers. All of the plants come from greenhouses on the Illinois State Fairgrounds and an Illinois correctional center. Morgan explained in the fall his team collects seeds and will collect flowers to grow in the greenhouses.

"The process is a year-long and that's what it takes to get this many flowers," he said.

Every street you turn down or building you enter on the fairgrounds, a large planter or landscaping is filled with color.

"The flowers are the number one attraction, said Max Barraza, an offender at Jacksonville Correctional. "I mean if people see what it was before to what it is now, it looks amazing."

Since 1994, the Illinois Department of Agriculture and Illinois Department of Corrections have teamed up to plant flowers on the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Morgan told WAND News it started with a couple hundred flowers, and now there are thousands of plants and flowers in various planters, boxes and beds.

There are also more than 200 hundred hanging baskets that decorate the grounds.

"It's been amazing, seeing it come from nothing to this," said Paul Salamon, an offender at Jacksonville Correctional Center.

Men and women from surrounding correctional centers help manage the landscaping and grounds. They are out 7-days a week watering, planting and weeding.

"I just hope they (fairgoers) enjoy it. I enjoyed doing it," he said. "I'm an older fellow, but I enjoyed it and it makes me proud."

Morgan said they wouldn't be able to manage the number of planters and beds without the help from IDOC. He said the men and woman take great pride in their work.

"The care factor is through the roof," he said. "They are really proud of what they've done."

In addition to the flowers and plants, Morgan and some of the women at various correctional centers have made landscaping decorations. On light poles, fairgoers will see dragonflies made from old ceiling fan blades and butterflies from hangers. In the landscaping beds there are lady bugs and bumble bees made from cans and mushrooms from old bowls.