A team of 60 volunteers that included children, teens and adults took gardening implements in hand on July 24 to plant flowers at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in preparation for the upcoming county fair Sept.10-14.
“Our fairgoers always appreciate the bright colors and atmosphere the flower gardens create at fair time,” said Santa Cruz County Fair marketing director Ron Haedicke. “We have over 2,000 flowers—marigolds, petunias and State Fair zinnias—to plant this year, grown by Watsonville-based nursery Cavanaugh Color for the fairgrounds.
Under the leadership of floriculture department head Kevin Larkin, volunteers planted flowers at the fairgrounds entrance and around several key buildings around the grounds.
“This is great,” he said. “This is the third year we’ve brought back the volunteers to plant the flowers. People are having fun, there are kids, scouts and 4-H just having a great time. This helps give them some ownership, and hopefully they come back to the fair and see what they did.”
The theme of the fair this year is “Hay Bales, Piggy Tails, & Ewe!”
Connie Hernandez, a gardener at the nearby Rodgers House said everyone in the project appeared to be having fun.
“We enjoy making the fairgrounds beautiful,” she said. “And I enjoy seeing all the smiling faces when it comes to fair time.
Following the planting session, the volunteers were treated to hot dogs, chips and cold drinks.
