The 13th annual Lewiston GardenFest, presented by the Lewiston Garden Club, is set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 16-17, along Center Street.
In honor of the occasion, the Lewiston Garden Club offered up 13 reasons to love this year's festival.
1. Browse the nearly 80 vendors. Get both ideas and plantings to beautify your own outdoor space from the nearly 80 vendors lining Center Street selling flowers, plants, handcrafted art and garden décor.
2. Stroll some of Lewiston's best private gardens. Throughout the weekend, festivalgoers can visit several private gardens of Lewiston residents, opened exclusively for Lewiston GardenFest's free garden walk. These gardens vary in size and style and are located both within walking distance and also a short drive from Center Street.
Festivalgoers can pick up the listing of private gardens from one of the hospitality booths during the event.
3. Attend a garden talk/demonstration. Several garden talks/demonstrations are on the schedule for both days. On Saturday, master gardener Carol Ann Harlos offers "Everything Hydrangeas" at 11 a.m. Kelly Degolier, landscaper, garden designer and owner of The Potting Shed, shares how to "Have Color in your Garden All Season Long" at 2 p.m.
At 1 p.m. Sunday, horticulture professor, floral design expert and gardening speaker David Clark presents "Keep your Flytraps Snappy and your Sundews Dewey - Everything about Carnivorous Plants."
4. Enter the container garden contest. Prepare a special arrangement in a traditional container or think outside the planter! Bring your container entry and a stand for display to the hospitality booth in Hennepin Park (located at corner of Center and Fourth streets) by 9 a.m. Saturday.
New this year is a children's division, encouraging future gardeners (ages 5-11) to get involved. Applications are available at lewistongardenfest.com.
5. Cast your vote for the most creative container. Stop by Hennepin Park throughout Lewiston GardenFest to vote for your favorite container garden planted by local residents and gardening enthusiasts. Prizes will be awarded to those containers that garner the most votes.
6. Get hip with hypertufa! Join Lewiston Garden Club members for a hypertufa workshop at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in Hennepin Park and learn how to make your own.
7. Beautiful butterflies. David O'Donnell from Eastern Monarch Butterfly Farm officially opens Lewiston GardenFest with a butterfly release at 10 a.m. Saturday inside Hennepin Park.
8. Crafty fun for the kids. Throughout the event, bring the children to Hennepin Park for a free workshop on making tissue flowers. It's open for both kids and adults - and there's a colorful souvenir to take home, too.
9. Ask your burning gardening questions. Master gardeners and representatives from Cornell Cooperative Extension and the Hosta, Daylily and Bonsai Societies are available in Hennepin Park throughout the weekend as resources to answer gardening questions.
10. Have your soil sampled. Bring a soil sample from your garden to Hennepin Park and have one of the master gardeners from Cornell Cooperative Extension provide free soil sample analysis.
11. Check out the creative talents of local businesses. As you walk along Center Street, look to local businesses and the impressive window displays, which each provides a different interpretation of gardening.
12. Shop and eat local. Lewiston GardenFest is proudly supported by dozens of local businesses. While visiting the festival, stop into some of the unique local shops and enjoy lunch or dinner at one of the village's many delicious eateries.
13. Support Lewiston's beautification efforts. Lewiston GardenFest is Lewiston Garden Club's largest fundraiser of the year and is free to attend. Money raised at the event goes back into the Lewiston community for plantings, beautification projects, scholarships and service projects.
"Lewiston GardenFest offers something for anyone who is interested in beautifying their outdoor space this summer," said Doreen Albee, Lewiston GardenFest chairwoman. "Whether you are a gardening novice or have a green thumb, our all-volunteer event committee strives to offer new ideas and demonstrations appealing to all skill levels."
