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Art/Nature
Joey Carlone puts his touch on Elaine Turner's painting during the Palmer Arboretum's first Celebrate Spring event. More photos on page 4. Linda Lemmon photo.
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clockwise from top left:
Committee member helps out.
Finding a quiet spot on a shady bench for creating.
Exploring
Making Birdfeeders
From left: Joey Carlone, Hans-Christian Becker, Nathan Becker and Nicholas Carlone paint up their bird feeder creations.
Viburnum
Palmer Arboretum hosts
Celebrate Spring event
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
WOODSTOCK — The 106-year-old Palmer Arboretum put its “young” foot forward May 22, with the first-ever Celebrate Spring Event.
Geared to introducing families and kids to the arboretum, kids ran free. Creating bird feeders, scavenger hunts, guided tours, bird watching, helping plant flowers, — there was something for everyone.
Plus, said committee member Andy Krovina, “what kid doesn’t like to paint?”.
Artists from the Art Guild Northeast were sprinkled through the grounds, creating art. It was a community effort with kids picking up a paint brush and putting their special touches on Elaine Turner’s painting. And at least 10 names were at the bottom.
Krovina, one of four on the committee, said the committee came up with the idea of a family oriented Celebrate Spring event about three months ago. And just the few of them got it done in three months. Also on the committee are Philippa Paquette, Jessy White and Sara Dziedzic.
“The Walktober event here in the fall draws mostly adults,” she said. “We wanted something to let families and kids know about the arboretum, too.”
Like Walktober, where the response is “we never knew you were here,” plenty of families coming to the arboretum said the same thing. And students from The Woodstock Academy, who have come to help the arboretum, also “never knew.”
Turner said the arboretum is “almost a secret”.
The committee is determined to change that.
Paquette, who led the tours, said “It was a first time for us as we really wanted to introduce people to this gem in their community. We had no idea how many would come — 0 or 500! But the 40 who did come was perfect. The artists were great, the kids all did the crafts, birds showed up and everyone seemed to enjoy the tours.”
Krovina said “We want to draw kids and families. Maybe come have a picnic here. Maybe we’ll get into a fairy garden.”
Artist Turner said it was a “lovely interaction” between families and nature. “Nature settles kids down,” she said. “One boy said he’d let his brother go first.”
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