The Unadilla Rotary Club’s fundraising efforts are blooming.
The 14-member club has scheduled its Village of Unadilla Garden Tour for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, July 28 to show off the gardening talent in the village.
The tour will feature seven gardens, Unadilla Rotary President Rik van der Meulen said.
The club plans to fundraise through the sale of garden maps and sponsorships from area businesses. Maps are available for $10 in Unadilla at Brown’s Pharmacy, the Green Giraffe and the Village Variety and from Unadilla Rotarians.
Club members began conceptualizing the garden tour about a year ago.
“We used to always do the Carnival of Sales (a village-wide yard sale held each July) and Pie Night and Autumn Fest,” he said, “and since we’ve had fewer members and older members, that hasn’t been going as well.”
After last year’s Carnival of Sales, the group started brainstorming other ideas.
Club member Christie Connor mentioned there had been a garden tour years ago that had been successful, van der Meulen said.
“People still remember, because we have lots of old members,” he said, “and people know there are people around that have nice gardens in their backyards, or somewhere people don’t get a chance to see them, and we thought people would be interested in sharing those gardens. Not all the time, but just one day, with a couple of hours where people could come and look.”
The event will be mutually beneficial, van der Meulen said.
“We were looking for a fundraiser to do in the summer,” he said, “because some of our bigger fundraisers we aren’t doing anymore because they’re so much work. This seemed like a good one, and specifically everything that we bring in from this is going right to supporting our youth exchange program and other things that we do for high school students, including the RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) summer program.”
The club needed six people minimum to go forward with the inaugural event. If people enjoy it this year, the club hopes to continue the event.
The seven garden are all in the village proper — most are on Main Street, one is on Adams Street and one is on Martin Brook Street.
“It’s self-led,” van der Meulen said, “and gardeners can decide for themselves if they want to be out there talking to people, and I know I heard one is planning to have refreshments.”
For more information, or a list of garden tour sponsors, visit unadillarotary.org.