This year, 15,579 people attended the annual Spring Bulb Show during the two weeks that the show was officially open. This is over 2,000 more than attended last year! We have actual counts for the past two years thanks to the efforts of our dedicated volunteers, who spent many hours, clickers in hand, keeping track of all our visitors. We charted the daily attendance figures and found that weekend attendance on fair-weather days topped 1,800. Rain or snow, however, cut that down to less than half. Average weekday attendance this year was 840 (up from last year's 649), and visitation on two weekdays topped 1,000. Since the show continued beyond the official two weeks, the number of people viewing the show was actually higher.
We are, of course, very proud of this special spring display and are glad to see that the community is enjoying it. This year, for the first time, we hosted two special evenings in the Conservatory in addition to the opening reception. One evening we were open especially for the Smith
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community. On another evening open to the public we featured internationally renowned flamenco guitarist Phillip de Fremery. Since these additional hours and programs were so well received and the response was so positive, we will be doing more in the future. Phillip de Fremery will undoubtedly be back to fill the greenhouses with the beautiful sounds of his guitar.
Last year we also counted visitors at the Chrysanthemum Show, which has a much lower attendance. Clearly, some of that is due to the very different state of mind of our visiting public in March versus November. By the time March rolls around everyone is hungry for spring flowers and color, but in November there is not that driving desire to come and view a floral exhibition. If only everyone knew how spectacular it is! Training the cascade mums is a very labor-intensive endeavor, and the Botanic Garden of Smith College is one of the few sites where one can find such an exhibition outside of Japan. We are looking at different ways to get the word out that outstanding floral displays also happen at the Botanic Garden in November. Please be sure to put the dates, November 6 through November 21, on your calendar now. You are also invited to a lecture by Cheryl Lowe, Horticulture Director at the New England Wild Flower Society, on November 5. The lecture begins at 6:30 pm in Seelye 106 and is followed by a reception in the illuminated Conservatory to preview the Mum Show. (See page 10 for more information about our lecture series.) |
