In spite of the rain, several St. Paul volunteers met at the corner of Rice Street and Como Avenue on Saturday morning to fill donated planters with fall-festive mums.

The city initiative, called a commercial vitality zone, with the support of the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board, works with communities on beautifying the 60-block area surrounding the state Capitol.

Saturday’s project was one of the first, sprucing up an unsightly corner at the North End intersection.

The planters were made by employees of Clear Channel Outdoor, a media company that owns the corner, and filled with plants from the Minnesota Horticultural Society.

“At the Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundations, one of our key strategies is to invest in community-led solutions,” said Eric Jolly, the foundations’ CEO. “The collaboration of partners in this beautification project at Rice and Como exemplifies in the best way what this looks like in action.”

Overlooking the corner is a Clear Channel Outdoor billboard featuring one of the project’s volunteers, Brandon Yang, who is involved in tennis programming offered by the nonprofit St. Paul Urban Tennis, which is a grantee of the Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundations.

Also at the corner is a Little Free Library, which is sponsored by the Junior League of St. Paul. That volunteer organization is also helping with the beautification project.