Garvan Gardens to celebrate 20th anniversary with eye to the future
This year marks 20 years since Garvan Woodland Gardens first opened to visitors, and while there will be some celebrating of the anniversary, the park is also looking to the future with The Ross and Mary Whipple Family Education Center.
Garvan’s 2020 annual report came out in late February, and in it Bob Bledsoe, executive director of the garden, mentions the upcoming education center.
“The development of the education component in our Mission Statement will be evident visually and in programming. The cornerstone of this effort will be The Ross and Mary Whipple Family Education Center, which will be housed here on the Garvan campus,” it said.
Bledsoe told The Sentinel-Record that the center is a “work in progress” with Garden Director Becca Ohman helping oversee its progress. He also said that they are “very much in the preliminary stage” of the project, but did say that the building will be used for “study of forest lands.”
Ohman said that the center is planned to be a 5,000-square-foot building that will house both exhibits for guests and workshops.
While the center was announced in November 2019, Ohman said that the
garden started working toward the project in the spring of last year. The center is being built with the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas. Ohman said that the school’s students have been involved in the process of bringing this project to fruition.
Over 70 students arrived at the garden last year where they helped with site selection. Ohman said that the garden selected seven sites on their grounds, and the students “evaluated seven sites on garden property to find the most suitable.”
The students “narrowed it down to three sites” by end of last summer, she said.
The students determined that the best location for the building is where one of the overflow, gravel parking lots is located, Ohman said. She added that the area “had a lot of potential for change.”
Ohman also added that they are looking at ways to replace the parking spots that will be taken by the building.
The students will continue to be a part of the project, she said. “This is an educational process. Students gain full process from site selection to construction. About 15 students (will be) involved on it each semester.”
The area that the students selected is outside of the garden’s paid entrance. Ohman said that they are “not anticipating that there will be a fee” to visit the building except for “workshops or special events.”
The timeline for the start of construction, Ohman said, “has some flexibility in it. She said it is “anticipated construction could begin in 2023,” but she added that is not a set date.
Inside the building will be both the Jane Ross Forest Institute for Environmental Stewardship and the Clark family Exhibition in Arkansas Timber and Wood. Between these two parts of the center, there will be exhibits and workshops available to the public.
Ohman said “we’re seeing this as a third element” of Garvan, the other two being the garden/welcome center and Anthony Chapel.
While this will be the 20th year that GWG has been open to the public, Bledsoe said that due to the pandemic, they are going to have a scaled-down celebration.
“We’re looking forward to the 25th,” Bledsoe said, noting that “we’ll absolutely acknowledge” this year’s anniversary.