SHELBURNE FALLS — The iconic Shelburne Falls Bridge of Flowers was cleared of several plants this past weekend ahead of the $3 million restoration and repair project which began Sunday and will run through the end of this year.

Bridge of Flowers Committee Co-Chair Lynda Leitner explained that the decision to allow the community to come and collect plants from the bridge was made because of the bridge construction requires all the plants to be removed. The new design will allow for new plantings after the work is complete.

“It’s a very sad thing to be losing some of the plantings, but whatever is here could not be put back on the bridge anyways,” Leitner said.

The bridge has been an important part of the Shelburne Falls community, and Leitner has heard stories of the connections people have to it.

“So many people from the area have grown up here, or they come back and say, ‘I used to walk across the bridge with my grandparents,’ so it means a lot everybody,” she said.

Starting at noon, people of all ages carried buckets, shovels and garden tools onto the bridge to dig up plants of their choice. The 400-foot bridge was packed with people searching for an open space to place their gear and begin foraging. A shared goal among participants was to take home a piece of history from the bridge.

“I feel like I’m continuing the history, so although they’re going to build a new one, these flowers would have been just so sad to have them die, so I’m having them continue, and I’ll remember forever where I got them,” said Toni Mango, who traveled from Springfield to collect flowers that day.

Although Mango was hoping to collect poppies, she came away with several lilies, a large piece of a rose bush and a rock, “because this is a memory of the place,” she said.

Nicole Boutiett and Dan Ross from the Rowe Retreat Center came to the Bridge of Flowers to collect herbs for the kitchen they work in. Their goal is to establish an herb garden for the kitchen, and Boutiett said this was an opportunity to begin that project.

“I love the Bridge of Flowers, and when I heard about this, I was extremely excited to come down and see what there was and interact with other cool gardeners in the area,” Boutiett said.

As part of the goal to create a garden, they collected plants that would attract pollinators to sustain them. To have plants from the Bridge of Flowers for their garden is important to Boutiett for the personal connection she feels to the bridge.

“Before I started working at Rowe Retreat Center, I would just drive out here to visit it, especially for the dahlias,” Boutiett said. “I’m a nature lover, so this just fills up my soul.”

Ross noted the generosity of the bridge owners saying, “For them to open it up and allow us to take a piece of [the bridge] to our homes and where we live and work is pretty cool.”

The last time the bridge was renovated was in 1979, and Leitner explained that plans for construction this time include preservation of the lamps across the bridge and removal of the wisteria trees in a coordinated manner to preserve the wood for future artist projects.

According to a history section of the Bridge of Flowers website, it served as a trolley bridge owned by the Shelburne Falls & Colrain Streetcar Railway until 1929 when the railway was closed. Since then, volunteers have planted flower beds spanning the bridge after the Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club converted the structure. The Bridge of Flowers Committee is volunteer-based and maintains several aspects of the bridge, including upkeep, finances and business outreach.

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.