Garden Festival has more than just plants
Dara Gholston
Issue date: 4/22/09 Section: Campus
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"This festival was started four years ago to bring publicity to our department, so we invited garden clubs from around the city to come and participate," said horticulture professor Lindsay Ono. "We started with about five participants, and it has been growing ever since."
The festival was free and open to the public. Companies and organizations, including clubs on campus such as BC archives, ceramics and geology clubs as well as classified staff and the Child Development Center, gathered to give free how-to seminars and offer information and opportunities to anyone interested.
During the festival, a stage, which has been in construction for two weeks, was revealed and named. The California Landscape Contractor's Association Garden Fest stage will be used for horticulture events and future Garden Festivals.
Food and beverages were provided by the BC culinary arts department and local businesses such as Café Amante and Cold Stone Creamery were there with booths of their own for everyone to enjoy. Laser tag, fish in a pool and dogs to adopt were activities out there for everyone, said many attendees.
"I think this festival is a really good way to stay in touch with the community," said BC graphic designer Eric Carillo. This year was Carillo's second year supporting the horticulture department by attending the festival. The Garden Festival even caught the attention of those who had other reasons for being on the campus.
"We were here watching a soccer game, and we saw the festival was going on in another area so we came to see the plants," said Aracely Gonzalez.
In addition to everything that was going on, Mayor Harvey Hall and BC president Greg Chamberlain dedicated the first plant of BC's arboretum.
"The arboretum, which is basically a tree museum, is the start up of a collection of trees that will be found on campus," said Sally Sterns, horticulture technician. This will be in partnership with Melissa Iger, executive director of Tree Foundation of Kern.
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