Canby’s spring and summer calendar has been severely pruned back this year thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, including the Spring Garden Fair being canceled this month for the first time in its 36-year history.
Though the popular sale was canceled, the spring planting season certainly was not (and, in fact, gardening might be one of the safest and most useful things you could do during the Covid-19 crisis). The cancellation left a lot of vendors scrambling for ways to get plants and other inventory out to their many customers in the Canby area gardening community.
That includes the Canby Garden Club, which has a booth at the fair each year to raise money for a scholarship that goes toward a local student interested in horticulture. All the plants are donated by members, friends and others in the community.
“Since the Spring Garden Fair got canceled, we are left with no way to sell the plants,” said member Karen Doupé, who has been storing most of the stock in her greenhouse. “This year we have over 600 plants and they need to find a new home!”
Like other Garden Fair vendors, the club has tried to find alternate means of reaching customers, but it has been a challenge, Doupé admitted.
“Not everyone in the club knows how to work the Facebook marketplace,” she said.
So, the club has decided to hold its own sale on May 23 and 24 in the parking lot across from the main entrance to the Canby Fairgrounds. Doupé said the sale will have in and out gates, offer wipes and sanitizer and follow all the other social distancing guidelines.
The club will also have “knowledgeable people ready to help with your plant purchases,” she said. The sale will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Payment by cash or card will be accepted.
The Canby Garden Club is an all-volunteer organization that meets monthly to discuss plants, take field trips, or do projects around the community. Canby Garden Club has been around for over 70 years.
