Preparing for an annual show and sale is a big job, involving months of planning, advertising, soliciting sponsors, growers fretting over blooms for weeks, and finally a day of setting up before the big event. It takes a large group of volunteers to prepare for the show and ensure that there is an area for entrants to prepare their blooms, a beautiful head table for the Best in Show blooms and tables for the many blooms that are entered into the competition. We work to ensure that our judges, who come from around the State of Florida, have a comfortable environment for their judging activities and that they are well fed! Separating 650 plants into groups of 54 varieties, in alphabetical order, and placing them on tables for the sale is a challenging chore! In addition, we prepare the lobby with displays of information on growing hibiscus, our chapter scrapbooks from the past 20+ years, and stunning trees with colorful hibiscus blooms. As the anticipation builds before the doors open for the sale at 1 PM we have members who speak to the attendees who are anxiously awaiting their turn to choose new tropical hibiscus plants for their gardens!
While all of this is a lot of hard work, the Chapter members really enjoy the camaraderie that we experience as we work together, and you’ll be able to see the smiles on the faces of our chapter members hard at work. No wonder we have attendees who sign up with new memberships on the spot – they can feel the excitement and fun in the air!
If you’ve never attended one of our annual show and sale events, you’ll definitely want to plan to be there next year!
