The Idea

The Spring Garden Festival began in 1990 when the president of Frontrunners Chapter of the Florida Nurseryman and Growers Association (FNGA) (renamed the Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association) approached the Gainesville City Beautification Board (CBB) to see if there was interest in jointly sponsoring an annual Spring Garden Festival at Kanapaha Botanical Garden.  The CBB had been running an annual Azalea Sale fundraiser until that year but the Azalea Sale was not raising enough funds to support all of the projects the CBB wanted to sponsor.  At the same time the FNGA was trying to increase attendance and income at its annual Plant Auction.

The Committee

The president of the FNGA, Alan Shapiro, was also active with the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens (KBG) and suggested to the CBB that the gardens was an ideal location for the festival. The result of this inquiry was an agreement for representatives of the two organizations to meet with the KBG to discuss the possibilities of holding the festival in the spring of 1991.

Members of the CBB and FNGA along with some of their spouses and other interested members of the community meet to discuss the possibility of a festival.  A committee was formed that begin organizing the tasks and participants needed to make such a festival a reality.  The two sponsoring organizations plus the community volunteers who became known as the Independents, forming the SGF Committee and agreed to hold the first Spring Garden Festival the third weekend of March 1991.

As planning proceeded for the first festival the committee realized it needed help providing and supervise a children’s activities area.  The Gainesville Garden Club, Inc. (GGC) was approached and agreed to take on that responsibility.  The GGC succeeded in the children's area and started taking on more responsibilities becoming an active member of the committee the next year and a sponsoring partner in the committee in 1994. 
After a few years the City Beautification Board began finding it difficult to maintain its commitment to the festival.  In 2000 the CBB removed itself from the Committee leaving the FNGLA, GGC and the Independents as the three sponsors of the Spring Garden Festival Committee establishing the current committee configuration.

The First Festival

The first festival had 116 booths plus borrowed military tents for seminars and children’s activities and a temporary stage for entertainment.  The committee set a rent for the booths and hoped that enough booths would be rented so the two organizations could afford at least the projects and scholarships they had been funding through their Azalea Sale and Plant Auction.  KBG charged admissions to the gardens for the Festival and use the ticket sales as a fundraiser for improvements to the gardens.  The first festival was a success an 18 festivals have followed.

The Future

The Spring Garden Festival is a "community event" in every sense of the phrase.  It is planned, organized, and operated by community volunteers.  It is designed to bring culture, arts, and enjoyment of the outdoors to members of our community, with activities planned for all ages.  And, the proceeds of the event are used to benefit the community through scholorships, research, and beautification projects.

While the specific members of the committee have changed over its 19-year life the number of active participants have remained about 25.  You are encouraged to become a Spring Garden Festival volunteer or committee member.  There are many opportunities to volunteer your time and talents.  Yes, it requires committment, but what an exciting and rewarding way to give back to our community!