What is to be learned from holding a neighborhood garden tour for 22 years?
Well, for starters, if you stick it out long enough, suddenly your event can grow like the plants in my backyard garden are doing this year, as this level of new growth is simply breath-taking.
For what could have been just another year of garden touring, this year’s 23rd edition of the
free Ottawa Hills Garden Tour has nearly doubled in size, rising up from a more traditional 16 total gardens in 2015 to a jaw-dropping 31 gardens to visit on Saturday.
But the upgrades did not stop there, as this event welcomes to the garden tours food vendors peddling hot dogs, a walking taco stand, and plenty of refreshment vendors. They even have ice cream for those who are overcome with heat to enjoy under a shady tree.
Also leveraging the talent of this southeast neighborhood will be musicians of Ottawa Hills, who will play musical styles from classical to jazz. Even Noel Webley & His Jazz Friends will make an appearance on this self-guided tour this year.
If you want to support a local entrepreneur of Ottawa Hills there are always plenty of lemonade stands and “pop-up” cookie stores along the sidewalks. Bring cash since I am not certain these little ones will have a square reader on their phone for credit card purchases.
Event organizers shared this funny story from the early days of this much-beloved community-building event: “When the Garden Tour first began in Ottawa Hills in 1994, it seemed that the people on the tour were the only gardeners in the neighborhood. When Tom Deur told his neighbor in 1993 that he was going to tear out a shabby hedge and put a garden between his house and her driveway, she said, "Now I'll have to look at cornstalks?" He was thinking annuals and perennials. Apparently, gardens could mean different things back then.”
Twenty-plus years have followed, and some gardens are the work of years and years of pruning, whereas some of the newbies additions are the products of writing a big check to a designer. Either way, it will be a lovely day in Ottawa Hills neighborhood for strolling, talking plant talk, and supporting a local small business from a kid who could become the next Mrs. Fields if they remember to set the timer on the oven.
Admission: Free