Kari McPherson spearheaded the Youth Section of the Coronado Flower Show for the first time this year, and when I caught up with her after the event, she was at home with her feet up.
“The Coronado Junior Woman’s Club (CJWC) has been running [the Youth Section] for a long time, and this was my first year,” she explained. Laughing, she said a friend in CJWC had been running it for years and made it look easy. “But it’s not! It’s really not!”
Kari’s hard work paid off, though. With its diverse entries and fun children’s activities, the Youth Section was a highlight of the Coronado Flower Show for many visitors over the weekend of April 17-19, 2015.
“I had a team of helpers from CJWC, they volunteered consistently throughout the show,” said Kari gratefully. “Sarah Rotherham did the Lion’s share of the work with the schools, distributing and collecting the kids bean plates. It was truly a group effort with most of the fabulous women from CJWC.”
The team’s work began long before the weekend of the show. They first distributed 1500 flyers around town. After that Kari turned her attention to the largest category in the Youth Section: Picture Plates, where children decorate paper plates with various types of beans. To ensure that the entries are “uniform,” Kari delivers the necessary supplies to schools in Coronado so that teachers can coordinate children making entries for the show.
Zoo’s Who is Kari’s favorite section “because they’re so adorable, and the kids get so creative.” She added that Pam Hammett of Coronado Hardware is a major community figure for this section. Pam “goes down under the [Coronado] bridge to the market down there and goes and gets all kinds of funky fruits and vegetables.” Pam then invites kids over to her house on the Friday night before the Flower Show to create amazing animals and scenes with eggplants, pineapples, mushrooms, artichokes, and more.
In total, “I think we had about 800 entries,” Kari said. How do the judges decide between 800 participants? “There’s 6 master gardeners” who “are not limited in what they can give.” She laughed. “I gave each judge a roll of stickers, and they went to town. They made sure everyone got a ribbon!”
Although each child may earn a small ribbon (first, second, and third place or a participant ribbon), the judges only give out seven awards for the “best in show” of each category. The 2015 winners were:
Best Picture Plate – Alexander R. of Silver Strand Preschool
Best Zoo’s Who – Jeremiah M.
Best Miniature Arrangement – Kate B.
Best in Horticulture – Charlotte D.
Best Growing Plant entry – Camellia T.
Best Flower Arrangement – Tommy & Emily V.
People’s Choice Award – Zoe A.
The Youth Section also included activities for children who are visiting the Flower Show. This year children could color bookmarks in one of the tents, and Kari remarked that the kids loved it because “it’s the one spot where they can sit and do an activity. I noticed a lot of parents hanging out there. It’s a place where they can rest in the shade.” Kari printed 400 bookmarks and only had 10 left at the end of the show.
The Youth Section also partnered with the Mary Hale of the Bridge & Bay Garden Club to make hand-tied bouquets. Children could select seven flowers from the buckets at the booth, and then Mary gathered them into a little bouquet with a ribbon. Tiny bouquets dangled from many hands around the Flower Show that weekend.
When asked about her dreams for the Youth Section next year, Kari said that “it would be fun to have a worm composting, have someone come out to discuss with kids and they can get their hands in the dirt.” In the vein of education, she also mentioned including a man she’s seen at the Del Mar fair with a plexiglass house filled with bees.
Appropriately, Kari’s goal is to encourage the children who enter the competition and pass through the tent, inspiring them now and for the future with “all things gardening!”
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Becca Garber
Staff Writer
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