Garden Club provides a chance to dress up
Its first Garden Party received a certificate of merit as the best celebration of National Garden Week from the American Federation of Garden Clubs, so the Bella Vista Garden Club decided to do it again.
On June 8 from 4 to 8 p.m. the Garden Club will entertain hundreds of northwest Arkansas residents amid the daylilies and waterfalls that make up the garden behind Simple Pleasures.
The first Garden Party took place around a creek in a hollow on the Scotsdale Golf Course. The golf course was closed for renovations at the time. The planning committee thought about returning to the same site, but it couldn’t ask the POA to close the course and it didn’t seem feasible to hold the party while golfers played through. So club members went in search of another location.
The problem, co-chair Karen Welch explained, was finding an area that was walkable, but with plenty of parking. They considered Branchwood where the old ninehole golf course has been replaced by a walking trail but, while the area is pretty and walkable, the parking is limited. The club looked at the grounds of the Bella Vista Craft Fair, which has plenty of parking but not enough of a garden look.
When club members looked at the event center, Simple Pleasures, located in the Highlands, they knew it was the perfect place. There’s parking. There’s a kitchen area where appetizers can be stored and then plated. There are restrooms, and there’s a garden in back.
Most of the daylilies that should be blooming during the party came from Garden Club plant sales, Welch said.
They’ll add to the garden with potted plants loaned from Rockwell Nurseries, Beth Kastl said. Rockwell Nurseries will also be a vendor at the party, so it will also have potted plants for sale.
Garden Club members will loan their own outdoor furniture, which will be set up around the garden in dozens of small vignettes, Welch said. Strolling musicians will stop to entertain the groups.
There will also be shopping. Local artists have been invited to set up booths around the fair. Several wellknown local artists and photographers with images of Bella Vista will be there. Kastl invited several artists from Wishing Springs Gallery and the last arts and crafts fair to exhibit.
There’s both a raffle and a silent auction planned. Proceeds go to the Garden Club’s scholarship program to help students of horticulture at the college level.
Music will be scheduled throughout the event, and appetizers prepared and donated by Garden Club members will be served.The staff at Simple Pleasures will have gourmet cheeseburgers available, she said.
Each ticket will be good for two wine pours, Kastl said, and a portion of the wine will be donated by Southern Glazers, a large wine distributor. One of the most popular booths at the first garden party will return. Hand-painted wine glasses are for sale with one free pour, she said.
Many of the club members working at the event will be dressed in true garden-party style, including summer hats, Kastl said. She thinks many of the guests will also dress for the occasion.
Tickets will go on sale later this month and will be limited to one thousand, Welch said. She expects the event will sell out.