“‘Twas just gardens in the rain,” but almost everybody came to the Boothbay Region Garden Club Home and Garden Tour on Friday, July 26. Although the sun never came out that day, the people were enjoying the wonderful gardens and outstanding homes on the tour.

The Home and Garden Tour Committee and Club members were delighted that the tickets sold out, as this was our goal. The funds from the tour will enable us to achieve the Club’s objectives. We give yearly scholarships of $5,000 to the YMCA for summer campers, and we also help fund our two college bound scholarship recipients with $3,000 each.

And, funds will also benefit our community as we continue to beautify our public buildings with flowering window boxes in the summer and wreaths in the winter. Also it is our mission to provide plants and upkeep to the Boothbay Memorial Park, Civil War Monument, and the Gazebo on the Common.

We have worked very diligently to continue the beautification of the Memorial Park with our new Butterfly Garden, the new sign, and the addition of a lovely wrought iron arbor.

The tour involved having 69 hostesses in the houses, eight men parking cars, and three people running the shuttles all day to the Coulombe residence. We could not have done this without the help of all these generous people, so many, many thanks.

The shuttle drivers did a great job of transporting people. Thanks to St. Andrews Village for the use of its shuttle bus and Barbara Marr who drove. The YMCA also provided us with a bus driven by Phil Tripodi, husband of garden club member, Barbara.  

Tom Dekker drove the school bus which Eileen King so graciously provided to us. All these people helped to make the tour welcoming, interesting, and safe.

We especially want to thank the home owners who offered their lovely homes and gardens. On Southport Island, that includes Sandy Leonard, Toni and Gary Woods, and Mr. and Mrs. Paul Coulombe and their estate manager, Greg Bond. Barters Island homes were those of Alice and Frank Schambra, and Pat and Joe Schubert. And on Sprucewold we were guests of Annmarie Kurzius.

The Sprucewold Lodge was also on the tour, and we express our gratitude to Richard and Dana Pizer for providing a lovely spot to stop for cookies and lemonade as well as some interesting local history.

Our committee also appreciates the great help provided by the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce where our tickets were sold by Catherine Wygant Fossett, Brooke Hubner, Rachel Tibbetts and Cherie Scott.  

Others we thank for their support are the Boothbay Register and Kevin Burnham where you saw great pictures taken by our publicity chairman, Leslie Cook, and Jason Sheckley of the Harbor Theatre for putting our ads on the big screen.

As you can see, this is a wonderful community where one organization helps the other. We are so fortunate.

For all of you who went on the tour and supported the activities of our club, we thank you again.  For all those people who were too late to buy their tickets, please consider purchasing a little earlier. Look for us next year as we present another exciting tour.

The Boothbay Region Garden Club Home and Garden Tour Committee: Jane Lunt, Tickets; Nan Jackson, Hostesses and Parking; Leslie Cook, Publicity; Irene Gerny and Pat McMurry, Co-Chairs.