Cape Coral’s Garden Club hosts annual event Saturday
The 7th Annual March in the Park will feature dozens of vendors with plants and artwork.
Hosted by the Garden Club of Cape Coral, the event will take place Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Jaycee Park. There will be 35 local vendors, along with speakers, a children’s booth and more.
Parking and admission are free.
Club president Ginny Huffer noted that there will be various plants for sale.
“All kinds of plants,” she said. “Palm trees, fruit trees, natives and ground covers.”
The club’s booth alone had over 500 plants available last year.
The art will range from painted pots and shell decor, to metal work.
“Things you can put out in your garden,” Huffer said.
There will be notecards and garden-related items for sale, as well as homemade and homegrown products such as honey, strawberries, fruit preserves, soap, oils, aromatherapies and more.
“Pretty much on the hour we’re doing speakers,” she said.
There will presentations on growing vegetables, identifying good bugs and bad bugs and their differences, how to attract butterflies to a yard and the medicinal uses of herbs and spices.
Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer any yard or garden questions.
“You can bring samples to show,” Huffer said.
Martha Kendall, the author of “The Plant World of the Calusa: A View from Pineland,” will hold a book signing from 10 a.m. to noon. She is also one of the guest speakers for the festival.
Cape Coral High School and Trafalgar Middle School will be represented.
“We do have a kid’s booth,” she said. “They have all kinds of activities and take-home things.”
A deejay will provide live entertainment throughout the day.
“We do have raffles going on all day,” Huffer said. “All the vendors donate an item.”
At 2 p.m., the main prizes will be raffled off. They consist of a hand-painted rain barrel made by a member of the club, a cart filled with gardening tools and plants donated by Home Depot, and tickets for the Edison and Ford Winter Estates, Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre and Cultural Park Theatre.
“You don’t have to be there to win a raffle item,” she said.
Huffer estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 people attend each year.
“We want this to be like a party in the park,” she said. “If you live in Cape Coral, you should be planting native plants – most of the plants that will be there are native plants.”
Proceeds raised from the event will benefit the Marty Ward Merit Awards, as well as programs and activities supported by the club. This year, four $500 merit awards will be handed out.
“They are just money awards to high school seniors who are going on to study some kind of horticultural or environmental studies,” Huffer said.
Applicants must reside in the Cape.
“We wanted to do something, give back to the community, especially in the field of education,” she said.
Food and drinks will be available for purchase at the festival.
The sponsors this year include Kohl’s, LCEC and Scotts Lawn Service.
For more information on 7th Annual March in the Park, contact Huffer at 239-257-2654 or Kathy Woodlock at (239) 242-6303, or visit the website online at: www.gardenclubofcapecoral.com.
Jaycee Park is at 4125 S.E. 20th Place at the end of Beach Parkway off Del Prado Boulevard.