Norfolk Master Gardeners
830 Southampton Ave., Ste 2069
Norfolk, Virginia 23510-1045
Neighborhood Expo
It was a great day in the neighborhood, the Neighborhood Expo that is.
Saturday, September 11 was a beautiful day at Lakewood Park. A crew of Norfolk Master Gardeners were back with our city partners that we hadn’t seen in person since BC – Before Covid. (We did see some of them in a little box on the computer screen during those long months.) Saturday’s event was sponsored by Neighborhood Engagement and featured a lot of great exhibitors – city offices, Norfolk Fire-Rescue, Girl Scouts, the Food Bank, and many others. Several civic leagues were represented.
Our info table displayed flyers for all our upcoming events, gardening brochures, and a spotlight on our Urban Agriculture Team. Will Redfern touched base with all the civic leagues and hopes he generated some interest in ways we could help them with urban gardening.
Much to our delight, we talked with quite a few Norfolk residents who were interested in having someone from the Urban Ag Team coach them at their homes for better personal gardening success. Our email contact list grew substantially with many residents signing up to hear more from our organization. We got leads from a neighborhood park for our help in designing a pollinator garden and from a recreation center needing guidance to refresh the garden there.
And of course, we brought along our most famous draw for the public – Monarch and Black Swallowtail caterpillars and chrysalises. We even had a Monarch emerge while we were there. Our visitors included exuberant youngsters fascinated by the caterpillars and chrysalises, but also numerous adults who wanted to learn about how to attract and care for the lepidoptera.
We were provided a table, chairs and food vouchers and enjoyed a delicious lunch from the Pollards food truck. Thanks, Will, Anna, and Kay for staffing the table and Jeff and Donna for helping with the break down. We had 72 contacts and lots of good interaction with Norfolk residents. This event was a fantastic networking opportunity for MGs. Hopefully we generated some interest for all our upcoming events and projects.
Lastly, congratulations to Anne Odell, U.P.L.I.F.T. Award Winner for her volunteer work around the city.
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