Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
Event Runs Saturday and Sunday
In a colorful and welcome respite from Hurricane clean-up, area residents will have an opportunity to enjoy shopping for new flowering plants and garden items from among thousands on display at the annual Plant and Garden Festival this weekend.
The free two-day event, October 19 and 20, is hosted by the GFWC Woman's Club of Lake Wales and will feature vendors and nurseries from across Florida who will offer their growing things. Decorative annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees will be on display Saturday and Sunday on the shaded grounds of the clubhouse at 275 East Park Avenue, downtown.
Begun only a year ago, the event proved so wildly popular that vendors begged the club to extend it to a second day, said chairwoman Pat Roberts, who organizes the event.
"Not only is this event a fundraiser for the Woman's Club, it's a great opportunity to bring our community together," Roberts said.
The event will begin at 9 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, running until 3 p.m. on the first day but end at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Some fifty booth spaces were reserved for the event.
The grounds of the club offer beautiful views of scenic Crystal Lake as a background to the arrayed colors of thousands of flowering plants. Mild temperatures and partly-cloudy skies will add to the appeal of the day.
Food trucks will be available, and picnic tables will be set up near the lake, making the festival an ideal opportunity to get out and enjoy the benefits of autumn weather.
Mental health experts have suggested that time outdoors and social interaction are contributors to overcoming the high stress levels most residents have experienced in recent weeks due to two successive hurricanes.
The proceeds of the event support the multiple charitable efforts of the club, including their scholarship fund, which sends several graduating seniors off to college with checks each year. Among fundraising activities during the free event will be opportunities to participate in drawings for baskets filled with gifts from area businesses, including some truly spectacular prizes.
The show "brings attention to all the good things our members do for the community." Roberts added. "We are always looking for new members!
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