By Mary Owen
The Turner Community Garden and Flower Club will celebrate 100 years of gardening by hosting a flower show at the upcoming Marion County Lamb and Wool Show.
The annual show will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on June 3 in the Turner Elementary School gymnasium.
“At 11 a.m., we will ride and walk in the parade,” said Lorie Bays, president of the decision-making and guidance committee of the nonprofit club. “Then afterward at 5 p.m., we will be dedicating a commemorative plaque, made by Cascade High School students, at the garden in the outer flower garden area. Visitors are welcome.”
According to Bays, the original home and garden club started in 1923 in the days when the women in town got together to support one another and to help beautify the small community.
“The original club met consistently through the mid-1990s, whether it was placing and caring for flower planters on the main streets or renovating an old Creamery into a Community Center,” Bays said. “These ladies were a valuable element in Turner. They even hosted some of the first community breakfast events.”
Bay said the current club relaunched that effort in 2016 with the groundbreaking of the Community Garden, sponsored corporately by Turner Christian Church, the City of Turner, and Wilco Farm Store. The club is supported by city and church sponsorships, plot rental income and donations, and like the first group of gardeners, its workforce is entirely voluntary.
“Our current incarnation of the garden group is to facilitate and coordinate an open opportunity for community members to have a place to garden with others and share with our community,” Bays said. “To share gardening knowledge and resources and encourage biodiversity, and to help out in our community where gardening can lend a hand, such as the wonderfully colorful new Memorial Flower Garden fronting the garden and planters in downtown.”
The group’s main focus is to offer garden space for people to rent, she added.
“We have single and family size plots,” Bays said. “And we usually try to plant out a corn field and pumpkin patch to share with the community. As of this season, we are creating a wonderful 120-foot by 30-foot very colorful and decorated Memorial Flower Garden along the road edge of the field.”
Another project was to incorporate non-stinging mason bees into the garden last year, with bee-houses made by students from Cascade High School, Bays said.
“We have several plots in the front area of our space that we have designated for growing produce for our neighbors through the local food pantry in the church next door,” she added, “and several times a year we participate in community events where we can showcase what we are up to.”
Mary Page puts to work her 45-plus years of gardening experience, five with the Turner club, by participating in the group.
“My mother was a member of the club, so that made me an unofficial member when there was work to be done,” said Page, a flower garden leader. “Like when I was 12 and needed to climb up a ladder to wash high windows when they renovated the Creamery. There was a lot of clean up.”
“The investment of time given to our 100th anniversary flower show has been a wonderful experience,” Nettie Galicia, a volunteer and new gardener, said. “I have really enjoyed it – from the planning committee, to building strong community partnerships, and the promotion of horticultural education, to making a positive impact in our local community.
“It’s a great way to add beautification to the surroundings and model an appreciation of nature and the social aspects of the Garden Club during the early years, today and into the future.”
“Going into the future, we are hoping to integrate more into the educational forum, possibly as an outdoor classroom opportunity, as well as further encourage our neighbors to participate in the community food plots production by getting personally involved,” Bays added.
“If you’re looking for something meaningful to get involved in, look into volunteering in a community garden, ours or others,” Bays said. “It’s all about community outreach and service. Make an impact in your world!”
