Musicians with the Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival perform Saturday, June 29, 2024, at the Midsummer Garden Arts Fair at Shakespeare Garden in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (photo/Cindy Hadish)

“The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief.” — William Shakespeare’s “Othello”

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Supporters of Shakespeare Garden in Cedar Rapids had plenty to smile about during their annual Midsummer Garden Arts Fair on Saturday, June 29, 2024, in spite of a hit to their revitalization efforts for the nearly century-old garden.

Picture-perfect weather greeted the crowd that gathered in the garden at Ellis Park, 916 Ellis Blvd. NW, for the free event featuring music, dance and poetry from Shakespeare’s time, including a scene from “Much Ado about Nothing.”

Shakespeare Garden is undergoing a revitalization that includes benches, decorative paving, stone planters, ADA-compliant pathways, plantings and more.

Read more about the revitalization efforts.

Three of the large planters, with Elephant Ear — a tropical plant that cannot survive Iowa’s winters without special care — were recently stolen from the garden.

Brown-colored planters, similar to the ones shown here, were recently stolen from Shakespeare Garden in Cedar Rapids. (photo/Cindy Hadish)

Al Pierson, owner of Pierson’s Flower Shop & Greenhouses, who serves on the Friends of the Shakespeare Garden steering committee, said the brown-colored decorative containers and plants he donated were taken about three weeks ago.

Each planter would likely have taken two people and a truck to move them from their spot in the garden, he said, estimating the total value at $1,000.

Two of the Elephant Ear plants were green and one was burgundy, or wine-colored.

Elephant Ear plants, at front, are tropical and cannot survive Iowa winters without special care. (photo/Margaret Wolter)

Pierson said many of the other large planters in the garden have concrete blocks in them and would take a forklift to move.

“We’re just hoping,” he said of thieves leaving other pieces alone, and asking for the public to keep a watch over the garden.

Sylvia Popelka and other members of the Wednesday Shakespeare Club have been the driving force behind the revitalization of the garden, which was decimated in the unprecedented 2008 flood in its location along the Cedar River.

The club has continued since its founding in 1895, while the garden dates back to 1927, when ground was broken and a mulberry tree of the same species as in Shakespeare’s own garden was planted in Ellis Park.

An entrance sign crafted by Barnes Manufacturing of Marion, Iowa, was recently installed at Shakespeare Garden. (photo/Cindy Hadish)

Club member Barb Rhame noted the garden has retained iris, roses and other plants mentioned in Shakespeare’s works, with additional native plants.

The mulberry tree survived Iowa’s 2020 hurricane-strength derecho windstorm and the 2008 flood, along with original peonies and the 1968-built stone walls facing Ellis Boulevard.

See photos from a past Midsummer Garden Arts Fair

Music at the Midsummer Garden Arts Fair was provided by the Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival, with singers directed by Fred Kiser and soprano, Ann Lawrence. Readings were by Stephanie Wagor, president of the Wednesday Shakespeare Club, and scene performed by Robin and Darrin Crow. Dancers were staged by Carol Maxwell Rezabek.

Shakespeare Garden revitalization efforts are a private-public partnership. Find more information, including how to donate, at: www.friendsofshakespearegarden.org and see more photos from this year’s event, below: