Growing Season
Launch your 2015 growing season in the most enchanting way — with a visit to the Penn State Extension Master Gardeners' Annual Spring Garden Market.
This 13th annual market will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Alameda Park in Butler Township.
For the second year, the master gardeners and Butler County parks department have teamed up to bring an event that salutes spring and sets off the magic that accompanies the new growing season.
Alameda Park will be transformed into a marketplace of vendors offering garden-related wares both ornamental and functional. Plant sellers will have vegetables, perennials, herbs, roses, shrubs, even small trees.
Crafters will offer decorative and useful objects to brighten your outdoor living space.
After you've found the plants and crafts you need to get your garden going, you'll be hungry. Food vendors will be on hand with sustenance in the form of light snacks, sweet treats and entire meals.
Admission, parking and shuttle service to and from surrounding parking lots are free.
Set amid the pavilions, shade trees and curving road of Alameda Park, the Spring Garden Market is a great way to spend your Saturday. A petting zoo and specially planned games and activities allow the children to join in the fun.
Garden Market radio and a classic rock 'n roll band complete the delightful ambience.
The master gardeners at their plant sale surrounding the Holly Shelter have new plants as well as old favorites for sale, along with a selection of gardening gloves and T-shirts. Stop by the Master County GreenLine table for answers to your questions about plants and herbs.
Butler County 4-H'ers will again work as plant valets with their bright green vests, and there will be a place to keep your plant selections safe as you shop for more.
The parks department is sponsoring an auction where you can buy tickets for a variety of donated garden-related items.The Odd Fellows Gazebo will provide a stage for This-That & The Other Thing, a family band from Zelienople. Michelle, Tony and Vince Burgess, a daughter, son and father group, will entertain market visitors with rock classics from the 1960s and 1970s.Bring the children in your life along. Home Depot will be there with project kits so the children can make their own creations to take home. Butler County 4-H will have a petting zoo.The Butler County Children's Center has coordinated activities for kids of all ages at the children's pavilion. Plans include crafts from Butler Area MOPS and the Center for Community Resources. Butler YMCA will have face painters on hand and is bringing a parachute for games.Girl Scouts from Troop 21841 and Troop 20910 are working on their Silver Award and will be reading stories and leading related craft-making.Safe Kids will have information on home and biking safety, and HIS Kids Christian School will have bubbles galore. The Children's Center will guide the creation of plant flowers, dirt dessert and bracelets with beads in addition to having games available.There will be door prizes at the end of the day.All children's activities are free.Penn State Extension Master Gardeners of Butler County are volunteers in the Penn State Master Gardener program. Their mission is to support Penn State Cooperative Extension by using research-based information to educate the public on best practices in consumer horticulture and environmental stewardship.For information, visit their website at http://extension.psu.edu/plants/master-gardener/counties/butler or call 724-287-4761.
