Two of our members recently had an opportunity to visit the community of Watford during their Christmas home tour. The Watford-Warwick Horticultural Society is part of our OHA district and they always bring unique ideas to our District meetings. Hearing about their mural inspired the concept of our face in hole murals at the Arboretum & Learning Trail.
Mary and Joel enjoyed a road trip and set off for Watford a few weekends ago. Watford is a village of a similar size to Wheatley and has Horticultural Society members who are just as passionate. A specific curiosity that Mary had was that their Society has a building and storefront located on the main street.
Upon visiting, Mary and Joel learned that there are two sections, the first, upon entry, is their ‘store’ where they sell all kinds of arts and crafts that the members make. Up a step and there is the ‘back’ of the store. This space leads into a small kitchen, a bathroom, and lots of storage. There is also storage on shelves up high in the main back space. They hold their meetings, monthly youth events from May to September, and do all kinds of craft workshops in this back space. In addition to their yearly Christmas shop, they do an event in the spring/summer. Last year, they grew plants from donated cuttings – the shop was full of live plants! Mary described the shop as more akin to something you would find in the Beaches in Toronto – well decorated, lots of lovely things, yet so affordable. There is real sense of community in there.
After visiting with members of the Horticultural Society, Mary and Joel set off on the Home Tour. There were 6 locations altogether, 5 homes as well as the Old Firehall Museum. It was a good variety, the homeowners and their properties unique from each other. Their last stop was the fire hall with a tour from Jennifer, one of the volunteers who is working on renovating the space, which once housed the jail. She is a graduate of museum studies and is volunteering with the Watford-Warwick historical society to curate and manage collected artifacts.
After the tour, visitors were invited to join the Watford-Warwick Horticultural Society at for tea, coffee, cider, and Christmas treats at the East Lambton Community Centre. The entry was lined with decorated Christmas trees sponsored by local businesses and groups including the WWHS. Down the hall was the Tea Room, nicely decorated and hosted by a few members of the Society. Mary and Joel visited with the members who were so happy that they had taken the time to come from Wheatley for the day. It is great to be able to see what other Horticultural Societies are up to and see what is working well in their communities.
Have you visited another community with great ideas recently? Feel free to reach out and we can feature your visit as well!
