The formal gardens are seen during a past Garden and Art Show at Brucemore in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
CEDAR RAPIDS – Earlier this year, Brucemore ended its annual plant sales and now, the long tradition of the Brucemore Garden and Art Show has ended, as well.
Linn County Master Gardener, Peggy Green, demonstrates seed-saving techniques in the sunflower garden at the 2015 Brucemore Garden and Art Show. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Typically held in late August, the event featured presentations by Master Gardeners and other guest speakers, food demonstrations using in-season produce, guided tours of the historic Brucemore estate, and sales by artists, garden shops, and more.
“After careful consideration Brucemore’s staff and Board of Trustees did make the decision to retire that event this year,” Jessica Peel-Austin, Brucemore’s manager of interpretation and collections said in an email. “As I am sure you know, the community has benefited from growth in the number of farmers’ markets, arts festivals, community events, and garden centers in recent years, creating increased competition for resources, vendors, and audiences. While the Garden and Art Show was a great event, Brucemore will be looking for ways to create new, innovative programs in the future.”
“Garden divas” planters were among the garden art sold during the Brucemore Garden and Art Show in 2014. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Brucemore, Iowa’s only National Trust Historic Site, held the Garden and Art Show on-site at 2160 Linden Dr. SE since 2007, a variation of the Eastern Iowa Garden and Landscape Show, which began in 2003.
The event traces its roots back even further, to the era of Irene Douglas, matriarch of the Douglas family, who owned the estate from 1906 to 1937, and had the nearly 1-acre formal garden installed in 1910. Strolling through the formal garden was among the highlights of the annual Garden & Art Show.
Brucemore continues to offer other tours of its site, including an upcoming Fall Garden and Landscape Hike.
See photos of Brucemore’s Garden and Art Show from the past few years:
2016 Garden and Art Show and Market After Dark
2014 Garden and Art Show and bonus Greek appetizer recipe
Layered Greek dip was made in a demonstration during the 2014 Brucemore Garden and Art Show. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
The Blues Festival and now this, do you ever expect to gain back all those lost audiences? I lived in Cedar Rapids for over 37 years and I never set foot in the place, Preserving the houses of the high and mighty has always seemed particularly decadent when those same resources could be spread much further and wider among those homes of the people who really created that wealth to be seen for the conditions that existed for the average person of the times, rather than the “captains” of industry who sucked their wealth away from those on the bottom and lived in luxury.