22
Wednesday, June 29, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
GARDEN QuILTS:
Event supports
Sisters Garden Club
Continued from page 3
as well as quilts displayed on
the surrounding fence.
The tour is the Garden
Club’s primary fundraising
event each year, with 450
tickets sold last year. They
have donated thousands of
dollars over the years to local
programs that promote gar-
den and nature activities and
improve the natural habitat.
Each year their Christmas
brunch includes collecting
and donating new unwrapped
toys for the Sisters-Camp
Sherman RFPD gift drive for
Sisters children.
The Garden Club had its
beginning in 1988, when 12
local citizens joined with
Barbara Warren and Michael
Woosley to formally establish
the organization. Sisters resi-
dent Claudia Grooney was
one of the founding members
and is still active in the club
28 years later, having been
granted lifetime member
status.
In the early years most
of their activities centered
around physical and monetary
support of civic plantings and
community gardens includ-
ing the library, Village Green
gazebo, and the “point” and
“cabin” gardens on the east
end of Cascade Avenue (the
cabin is no longer standing).
In 1992 the members planted
800 daffodil bulbs at the mid-
dle school.
In 1998, Jean Wells,
founder of the Sisters Outdoor
Quilt Show, approached the
Garden Club with the idea
of having garden tours avail-
able to the participants of
the Quilter’s Affair classes.
The first annual Quilt Show
Garden Tour was held on
the Friday before the Quilt
Show. Wells was made a life-
time member of the Garden
Club in appreciation of her
help and encouragement with
the tour.
That first tour raised
$4,000, half of which was
donated to the Sisters High
School science department
for the purchase of field
guides and resource texts to
be used in their wetlands res-
toration project. The other
$2,000 was allocated for the
four community gardens
maintained by the club.
Homes were added to the
tour starting in 2000. From
that year forward, generous
donations of the proceeds
have been made toward stu-
dent greenhouses and garden-
ing programs at the schools,
as well as toward Barclay
Memorial Park, the Deschutes
Land Trust, Sisters Rotary for
planting materials, the Upper
Deschutes Watershed Council
for work with Sisters stu-
dents, the Sisters Community
Garden, and the Seed-to-
Table program.
In recent years, Marsha
Lewis, with help from Jackie
Wright and other volunteers,
has organized and facili-
tated the annual Quilts in
the Garden event, including
securing the gardens to be
featured on the tour. Imagine
convincing a homeowner
to allow 450 people to walk
through their yard in one day.
Sandy Doman is the mem-
ber who, over the last decade,
has organized the quilt dis-
plays in the gardens. She col-
lects the quilts and, two days
before the tour, sees that the
lines are installed in each gar-
den from which to hang the
quilts. Each quilt is carefully
matched to a particular gar-
den by size and colors.
Each August the club has
a private tour of select mem-
bers’ gardens plus lunch, to
which they have several times
invited a COCC garden class.
In 2006-2008 members of the
club marched in the Sisters
Rodeo Parade performing as a
“drill team” with their rakes-
and-shovels routine, winning
a ribbon for their efforts.
The club meets the sec-
ond Saturday of most months
SISTERS HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
Thrift Store
ReStore
4th of July
is around
the corner,
and we are
open 9 to 5.
50% OFF
See you then!
541-549-1740
ANYTHING WITH
A BRIGHT YELLOW
PRICE TAG!
is my
Yellow te color!
favori
541-549-1621
141 W. Main Ave., Sisters
254 W. Adams Ave., Sisters
Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sunday, 12-4 p.m.
Donations accepted
Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed Sundays
Donations accepted
Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall for
educational presentations,
demonstrations, and panels.
From the original 14 mem-
bers, the club grew to almost
100 members in 2013, when
the club celebrated its 25th
anniversary. Currently there
are over 75 members, one-
third of whom are men.
Larry Nelson is serving
as president of the club for
a fourth year. Kathy Plank
served for three years prior
to that. In a professionally
produced video of the 2011
Quilts in the Garden, Kathy
explains why she thinks the
tour is such a hit year after
year.
“I think something magi-
cal happens when you com-
bine quilts and gardens and
outdoor landscaping. What
people notice most is the sun
shining through those quilts
and glittering on the plants
and flowers, and it’s just
breathtaking,” she said.
Future plans for the club
include a three-phase rede-
velopment over two growing
seasons of the gardens at the
east entrance to Hood Avenue
photo by sue stafford
Quilts and gardens go together in sisters.
in conjunction with the devel-
opment of the Hood Avenue
Arts District. Now that the
City has installed power,
water, and drip irrigation in
those gardens, many more
things are possible, including
a proposed kinetic sculpture
of some kind.
In its 28-year history,
the Sisters Garden Club has
made invaluable contribu-
tions to the city through their
labors, their knowledge,
and their generous financial
support – all of which have
helped beautify our town
while enhancing our natural
surroundings and educat-
ing our children about the
importance of the natural
world.
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T h e Nu
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