When the St. Albert Gardening Show officially showcases its lovingly tended blooms on Aug 19 and 20, visitors will immediately notice a streamlined affair.
Gone is the strong emphasis on developing petal perfect flowers. As show chair Pat Curtis points out, now the focus is on having fun.
“We simply had to get a new format. It was too cumbersome. It took a lot of time to put it up and take it down, and I don’t think we got the benefits we would have liked,” said Curtis.
Sporting a tag line ‘Show What You Can Grow,’ the flower parade remains at St. Albert Place. However, the floral extravaganza has been pared down from three days to two. Friday night is registration and Saturday is the judging, showcase and presentation of awards.
To create an elegant sense of joie de vivre, guest judges from the public at large have replaced traditional Alberta Horticultural Association judges.
Curtis explains that while it was a point of pride for master gardeners to have their florals judged by AHA judges, it also intimidated many new gardeners from entering potential exhibits.
“I just want people to take it out of their garden. Judges can come in and we’ll say ‘which do you like best?’ It’s a lot less fussing around and a lot more fun.”
The new committee has also cut the sections from 10 to six by eliminating some categories that were not popular and combining others.
“We still have everything from last year. We’ve just pared it down.”
This year the sections are cut flowers, produce, potted plants, young gardeners, artistic endeavours (includes photography), and fun and fantastic.
“Fun and fantastic is a new category for extreme examples of gardening achievements – the most deformed fruit, the largest squash, the longest bean pod, the blackest colour bloom or the most deformed root vegetable.”
One of the eliminated sections is the trophy give-away.
“We didn’t think people do it for the trophies. But they cost a lot of money to upkeep and on top of that there’s a problem storing them. We just want to be more user friendly, more fun.”
The changes were prompted after there was discussion to cancel the 2016 showcase due to a lack of volunteers. Curtis volunteered to chair the event only if there was a slimmer format.
“We felt it ran too long and it’s such a huge show to put on. It just got to be too much.”
There will also be fewer prizes this year, however the denominations will be larger.
To spread the word of this beautiful showcase, the club applied and received a $2,400 community events grant from the City of St. Albert.
“We hired Katherine Lomax, an event planner at Elegant Touches. We hired her so we could get the word out and attract new and younger people.”
Lomax has advised the club on marketing strategies and started a Facebook page.
“You need new blood to keep the club going. You need to talk to new people to get change.”
The St. Albert and District Garden Club will man an information booth at the St. Albert Farmers’ Market on Saturday, Aug. 13 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more exhibit information visit www.stalbertgardenclub.info/ or call 780-907-4322.
