Cancellation of Southeast Flower Show for 2010

Hi all – I am sending this out as this makes me worried… My plan for the GDS this upcoming year was that we’d try to make the SE Flower Show our big outreach push, but not anymore. I know plant societies have tried reaching out to elementary aged kids, and on occasion to high schoolers, but conversely I understand that where the FFA / 4-H has been growing by leaps and bounds (from a dying society to far from it) is in urban areas by concentrating on cutting-edge technology related to the food industry (so, bioengineering, etc, not how to grow a nice cow or flower). Food for thought, or grounds for concern, really. For you GDS’ers on DaffNet, maybe we need to figure out about more outreach efforts -?

 

 

Flower Show nipped in bud: Organizers make drastic cuts

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Monday, April 20, 2009

The Flower Show as Atlantans have long known it won’t be in bloom for 2010.

Facing a need to reassess its business model, the Southeastern Horticultural Society is dramatically scaling back the show for 2010 and will have a smaller event in its place, according to executive director Kate Chura.

Chura, who joined the SHS last fall, said while attendance was up from last year, the show’s corporate sponsorship was down.

“The spirit was there, but the dollars sure weren’t,” she said.

The show also failed to draw in younger gardeners, which will be an integral part to sustainable success.

The break from the event, this year held at the Cobb Galleria Centre, allows the horticultural society to focus on developing a long-term plan to become profitable, build corporate sponsorship and attract a new audience, she said.

Part of that includes community outreach, such as its plans to build a learning garden in the Edgewood community this summer.

The society plans to bring the larger show back in 2011.