The International Peace Garden is celebrating everything we love about summer gardens this weekend at the 3rd Annual Summer Celebration.
CEO, Tim Chapman, says the flowers are in full bloom and it’s a beautiful time of year for visitors to see the Peace Garden at its finest.
"We just really want to always focus on doing a little bit more and attracting more people once we hit peak bloom, which is about this time of year,” he explains. “We couldn't be happier to get to this point of the year with a completed Conservatory, the Sunken Garden and the perennials are looking incredible.”
The Peace Garden will feature their Summer Cruise in Car Show on Saturday from 11 am to 4 pm and folks will be able to get in on casting their vote for the ‘People’s Choice Award.
Illusionist, Brian Glow, will be performing and also in the live entertainment lineup will be Bobby and His Banjo, featuring Jill Davis. ‘As a musician with over 30 years' experience, his repertoire includes classic rock, country, Americana and Jimmy Buffet! Jill & Bobby will be performing at 1:30PM and 4PM.’
Chapman says they’re excited to be sharing their official Grand Re-opening of the World-class cacti and succulent collection in the newly built Conservatory.
“Fortunately, we're going to have a pretty moderate weekend as far as the weather goes,” adds Chapman. “So often at this time of year, it's well into the 30 degrees and pretty hot for folks, and it's nothing we can control, but the cooler weather just makes it that much better. And it will be that much more comfortable for folks this weekend, while walking through the grounds and then going into the Conservatory and checking out our cacti and succulent collection.”
Officially welcoming visitors into the world-class Conservatory is exciting for the Peace Garden Board of Directors and staff.
“It's been a long time coming, and even though folks have been able to take advantage of it since Mother's Day, we wanted to do a ribbon cutting and give some remarks on the process and what we're excited about,” says Chapman.
On both Saturday and Sunday, Peace Garden Horticulturalists and caretakers of the collection, Johannes Olwage and Jonah Neufeld will be available to speak with visitors.
"We've freed up those two days for Johannes and Jonah to really interact with people and answer a lot of questions and kind of talk about the significance of the collection, the diversity of the collection and why it's so important for us as a whole going forward,” adds Chapman.
“And so, this weekend folks will get the best of both worlds,” continues Chapman, “the Conservatory is complete, and they can see all of that wonder and beauty inside of the building. But then outside on the grounds as well. Some people just are pretty focused on the flowers and the blooms, but others want a little bit more of an experience as they're going through the channel and checking out the different designs and things that we've done this year.”
In addition to the blossoms, the Peace Garden features a fun play area where kids can experience some amazing features depicted after different animals, such as a beaver lodge and an eagle’s nest. An additional feature will begin in September, that being a fox zone where kids can crawl through a series of culverts to mimic what a fox would be doing in its natural habitat in the Turtle Mountains.