Flowers: Sunshine for our Soul
The Crown Point Garden Club has been making our souls shine for 90 years. The club was organized on August 13, 1929, and became a federated club in 1933. The original garden club pledge served to guide their service projects: “To take a personal interest in gardening and do something for the improvement of home and public grounds.” The club started an annual flower show soon after it was formed. The club delivers May Baskets for area shut-ins every spring, a project that started in 1948.
Since the 1980s, the club has participated in beautification projects around The Hub City. For several years, it has held a spring plant sale every May. The club has hosted an annual, now bi-annual, Garden Walk featuring home gardens around the community. It gives money to the children’s flower garden at the annual Lake County Fair, as well as offer scholarships to students studying agriculture, horticulture, and environmental studies in college. Additionally, the Garden Club makes our town beautiful by tending the flower beds at the Courthouse and providing Christmas wreaths for the doors of the Courthouse. Members also tend the flower beds at the Lake County Fairgrounds covered bridge, the small space at the CP Civic Center, the Lexington House, and the Old Homestead. The club provided garden design surrounding the Seward Johnson statues on the Courthouse lawn in 2018.
Through the Garden Club’s efforts and donation, the old Lake County Courthouse now displays a Blue Star Memorial By-way Marker. The Blue Star Memorial Marker program was started in 1945, by the National Council of State Garden Clubs. The 1362 pound stone marker, located on the southwest corner of the lawn, reads “Blue Star Memorial By-Way. A tribute to the Armed Forces of America, Ladies of the Crown Point Garden Club.” The marker was dedicated in 2018 and the club will maintain the area, as they do the rest of the lawn.
As it looks to the future, the Garden club hopes to continue to care for areas around Crown Point, with possible expansion of areas. In keeping with its mission of improving the community and promoting conservation, the club is looking toward starting a pollinator garden, to be located at the northwest corner of the fairgrounds property. And be on the lookout for the Garden Club in the 2019 Crown Point 4th of July parade, where it will have a float that is “90 Years and Still Growing!”
