A four day garden tour? Good grief!
After a week of barge canal cruising through the Alsace-Lorraine area of France - along the German border (posts to come), I come home to this.
It's a letter to the editor of the Buffalo News suggesting Garden Walk Buffalo be extended to four days. And to also do an event in Spring. And the Fall. Made me laugh. You can read the full text here.
It's not as though the Garden Walk committee hasn't had these thoughts in the past, it's just that it's a lot of work to put on the event for two days already. From selecting art for & designing posters; soliciting corporate sponsors; lugging water bottles; schlepping merchandise around; dragging displays; counting money; doling out yard signs; heaving piles of maps from location to location; mailing shirts; answering the same questions over 10,000 times; managing databases; inputting donor info; planning gardener parties; doing bookkeeping and accounting; manning booths; figuring out how to distribute Beautification Grants; coordinating 20-some committee members, 75 weekend volunteers, and 340 gardeners–what we do as a group is already a large undertaking. As a garden group - you can see we do little gardening. As president of the group, my head reels at the thought of how much this group of twenty-some committee members already accomplished each year.
Not to mention all the work it takes to get your garden ready for 50,000 visitors. And what gardener would have an extra two days to take off work to standing their garden? Most of us work (when we're not canal cruising in France).
I hope you sent these exact words to your local paper in response to this person's suggestion. Maybe she should head up a committee. Usually people [like me] are so ready to hand out advice but when it comes to doing the work, they're MIA.
ReplyDeleteYou are a victim of your own success...
ReplyDeleteMaybe she'd like to volunteer?
Your public cries for more! I can feel the exhaustion from your words.
ReplyDeleteNow, for the good stuff... I'm going to be watching closely for your posts about your trip to my favorite country (France).
Cameron
Well Jim, with all that work you and your group already does, what's one or two more days? Ha, just kidding. I understand how enormous of a task it must be. Can't wait to see your posts about your trip!
ReplyDeletevery very nice blog, I like it very much. Please keep it up :)
ReplyDeleteGrace,
ReplyDeleteShe? It was a man that wrote the article. A volunteer already for our botanical gardens! In his defense, many think the Garden Walk is organized by the city and has access to many resources. He was very complimentary about the Walk and the work we do. I just don't think he realizes how much we already do.
Al,
Thanks Al, I'm glad someone realizes I'm a victim.
Cameron,
Exhaustion? Not quite, but close. The Walk committee doesn't meet until February now. We're in our recess. Now there are subcommittee tasks that will take up every minute until then.
Jean,
You would think just adding two more days would not be an issue, considering how much effort it takes to do two days - what's two more? But we'd have a gardener uprising throughout Buffalo for sure.
Hortist,
Why thank you very much!