REPORT ON FOURTEENTH ANNUAL ALVIN AREA GARDEN TOUR

Thanks to all of you who helped to make our annual Garden Tour the most successful one we’ve had–$2,158.37 earned for maintenance of the Marguerite Rogers House Museum. Thanks to Terry and Jody Droege, Troy and Pam Lewis, and Nate and Jodi Woodsmith for letting us feature their unique outdoor spaces this year. Thanks to those who worked ahead of time on preparations: Jerry Pryor helped to find gardens to feature, and she made reminder calls to workers. Bobbie Case and Jean Vance cleaned and readied the Cottage and the privy/storage shed/library. Trent Klopp helped me clean the garage, and Bobbie and I kept it open on Friday, April 11, for the delivery of donated plants. Dick and Betty Graef chose Smith Nursery plants early and, with the help of Charles Miller, picked them up and transported them to the garage on the day before our event. Donated plants for the Saturday sale came from the Klopps, the Graefs, Robert and Elsie Beard, Bart and Joy Dell DeWitt, James and Katie Janik, Nancy Jermain, Tom and Kathy Mattes, Georgie May Hayes, Janie Whitaker, Pam Evans, and probably other members whose names were not recorded during the rush. With all the blooming things from Smith’s Nursery and all the tomato plants that the Graefs brought, we had quite a lot for the sale. Thanks to so many for help on Saturday with set-up/take-down and staffing at MRHM. With help from Noel Hankamer and Bart DeWitt getting the antique car out of the garage and putting signs out, and from the Beards and Graefs setting up the sale–with Barbara Biggers and June Wyatt as cashiers and Georgie May Hayes and Charles Miller as sale watchers–we were able to sell most of our plants by mid-afternoon, when Bart and Tom Mattes–and probably several others--helped the Graefs to fold everything down after the event. Bobbie (Chairman) and Jean and Lois Horner were our docents. Jerry Pryor (Chairman), Marlena Nelson-Goddard, Fran Van Winkle, and JoAnn Jolly staffed the outdoor ticket table until our two money counters–Janie Lindsey and Judy Scott–took over at 3:00 P.M. Thanks so much to openers and closers and to those who chaired shifts and worked at least two hours--sometimes longer: Emmit and JoAnn Miller, Billy and Linda Struckmeyer, Bob and Ruby Adams, Mona Travis, Diane Davenport, Kathy Mattes, Ruth Ann Schovajsa, and Betty Speed. And thanks to so many of you who worked shifts at the private gardens: Karl and Olivia Brohammer, Bart and JoyDell DeWitt, Bill and Georgia DeWitt, Cornell Dewitt, Vicki Ennis, Alice Goyen, J.B. and Beverley Hensler, Katie Janik, Howard and Louise Johnson, Trent Klopp, Ricky and Joyce Kubeczka, Joyce Lewis, Nelma Martin, Joan McNabb, Gloria Mercer, Amanda Miles, Tommy and Becky Peebles, Martha Rolingson, Alice Segers, Helen Strouhal, Roger and Jeannette Stuksa, Doyle and Rosemary Swindell, Flora Ann Triplett, Janie Whitaker, Annette Williams, and Judy Zavalla And thanks to Alvin Garden Club for allowing us to include their Annual Flower Show as part of our event, and to Kenny Schonert, who picked up our leftover plants and pots to nurture and sell at St. John’s Catholic Church Bazaar in May. Thanks also go to Dreyfus Printing for our flyers; to the radio stations and newspapers in Alvin and surrounding towns, to all of you who posted flyers, and to the staff at Brazoria County Historical Museum for helping with publicity; to Alvin Police Department for patroling our sale overnight on Friday, April 11; to County Mosquito Controllers for being on hand in case we needed them; to staff at Alvin Muffler Shop, Buddy Lindsey and his Old Time Service Station staff, and staff at the Overhead Door Shop and the Metal Shop for permitting us to use their parking on Saturday; and to Billy Struckmeyer and Emmit Miller and their AMS maintenance crew, Mike Buitron, and Rush Maintenance for keeping our MRHM property looking so good. It takes a community to staff this event. Thanks to all of you for helping to keep it going during the past fifteen years! Working together, we’ve earned just under $20,000.00 for maintenance of our little Alvin treasure–The Marguerite Rogers House Museum. – Pat Klopp