The first (of what is hoped to be many) Bakersfield Garden Festival was held at the Bakersfield College Horticultural Unit Saturday, April 22. Our club had a table under the trees along with the Green Thumb Club, Rose, Orchid, and African Violet Societies, Pottery sellers and others. Steve Crippen, Gwen and myself manned the table for the five hours of the festival. Donna and Les brought a flat of small potted succulents and some larger ones to sell. I brought a bag full of cuttings and rooted pieces to give away and some flyers with club info, a few books, and an album of pictures of what our club has done (Cal State Garden, Meetings, Show & Sale). We managed to sell and give away most of the plants and made $20 in the process. We didn’t treat this as a fund raiser but rather as a way to get the word out about our club. The festival was set up to make people aware of all the things available for all kinds of gardening in the city. “How to” demonstrations on koi ponds, tree planting, turf, and bedding plants were presented as well as an on-location broadcast of the local Radio Garden Show. The turn out was fair, though I got the impression that most of the people wandering around were members of the other clubs. A lot showed their enthusiasm for succulents and a few inquired for more info. The Garden Festival is an easy way to get gardening-types aware of our club. We are provided with table(s), and chairs, and it takes just a few people to man the station for a short time. There is plenty of room for us to expand our presence if we wanted to do more.

Stephen Cooley

photo by Les Oxford

Donna and Friends
photo by Les Oxford

The Green Thumb Gardening Club
photo by Les Oxford