The hot weather didn’t keep a steady stream of visitors away from the Salem Daffy Dill Garden Club’s first Festival of Flowers and Statue Garden Walks on Saturday.
The event featured numerous local vendors and food trucks. Garden Club President Dee Hanson says the festival’s focus changed after several of those who were going to be part of the traditional garden tour had to back out.
“So we decided that we’ll just do something different and have some vendors, and just call it the Festival of Flowers and give the history of this statue garden that I think a lot of people in the community don’t know. And then an opportunity to walk around and for us to explain what some of the plants and flowers really are and enjoy it. I mean, we want the public to be aware of this, it’s their city park.”
Hanson says they also wanted to provide information on William Jennings Bryan.
“We want to bring attention to that as much as we can and link it also to the William Jennings Bryan house because they should go together. It’s his statue, but it’s also where he grew up. So there’s a lot of history here, and we really want to emphasize that.”
Hanson says they would also like to get more people involved in the Daffy-Dill Garden Club. She says everyone is welcome to their meetings on the second Thursday of every month from February to November at 6:30 p.m. at the Bryan Bennett Library in Salem.
Visitors to the Festival of Flowers look over the plantings around the Bryan statue. Photo by Henry Morton.
Flowers surround the Butterfly artwork. Photo by Henry Morton.
Getting a tattoo at one of the Festival of Flowers vendors. Photo by Henry Morton.
One of the vendors at the Festival of Flowers. Photo by Henry Morton.
