By Dee Longfellow
For The Elmhurst Independent
As a consequence of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the Elmhurst Garden Club (EGC), like many organizations, found it necessary to cancel the 25th Annual Garden Walk & Faire scheduled for July 2020. Thus, the 25th annual “Afternoon in the Garden” celebration had to be held over for another year.
That year has come. The 25th Anniversary of the Elmhurst Garden Club “An Afternoon in the Garden” Garden Walk & Boutique Faire, featuring five gloriously blooming private gardens, will be held on Sunday, July 11 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
In order to provide a safe environment for all those involved in and attending the Garden Walk and Faire several modifications and changes were initiated and all CDC guidelines for safety, social distancing and masking will be recognized.
A total of 500 timed entry tickets to tour the gardens will be available online only. Tickets are $18 from May 1 to midnight July 10. On the day of the Walk any available tickets will be $23 online only. NO tickets will be sold in local stores or in Wilder Park. The Boutique Faire in Wilder Park, featuring garden plants, accessories, horticultural experts and more, is free and open from 10 a.m-4 p.m.
One of the community gardens on this year’s Walk is the Darrell L. Whistler Memorial Prairie Garden at the Community Bank of Elmhurst, next to the cupola from the former hospital building.
“It’s a sweet little garden and nice tribute to Darrell,” said Club member Susan McCoyd.
At the Boutique Faire, measures will be taken to assure adequate room for vendors’ displays and ample space to allow visitors to move about safely. The EGC is very grateful to the Elmhurst Park District for their partnership and assistance in facilitating the operation of the Boutique Faire since 1995.
Proceeds from previous EGC Garden Walk events have gone to fully support scholarships to Illinois college and university students studying horticulture, landscape architecture, botany and environmental studies; to York Community High School students for experimental science programs; and to Elmhurst Park District summer camps. Since 1999, proceeds from the EGC Garden Walk have funded a total of $179,000 in scholarships.
Proceeds also benefit many community projects including but not limited to maintaining the Herb Garden in Wilder Park, mentoring York High School Garden Club; improving and maintaining the campus appearance at Ray Graham Learning Center; holiday decorating of the Elmhurst Public Library and contributing to Elmhurst Cool Cities Coalition for public environmental programs.
Following the cancellation of the 2020 Walk many generous friends and benefactors stepped forward with contributions to EGC Scholarship Fund allowing the club to continue another year offering scholarships to deserving students. The EGC sincerely thanks all those who responded to the request for scholarship financial support.
For more information, visit www.elmhurstgardenclub.org.
