Children play a big role in Flower Festival
Wednesday, 10th September 2014
Children are being well-catered for over both days of this year’s Grahamstown Flower Festival that runs over the weekend of November 1 and 2 in the 1820 Settlers National Monument.
Imaginations will run wild on the Friday afternoon as pupils from local schools construct their flower arrangements using a variety of props and decorations. In past years children have come up with arrangements that resemble rainbows, rustic gardens, South African flags and a walk along a garden path – there were also flower-adorned teddy bears, farm trucks and wheelbarrows.
While the children may have done some pre-planning, they will be on their own on the Friday afternoon as they set up their displays, with no parents permitted to assist them.Come the Saturday morning they will join the adults taking part in their own flower competition as the judging panel ambles slowly up and down the fountain court area inspecting each display and bloom with keen interest.
The various category winners will be announced via a coloured sticker on their entry card, and proud parents and grandparents will be given the opportunity to view the entries.
A performance by the Graeme College steel band outside the Monument’s main entrance, to which many children are attracted by the unique, joyous sounds, will be followed by a children’s treasure hunt, with the fountain court as the meeting place.
A festival highlight for children will undoubtedly be the “Super Succulents” workshop being presented between 11am and noon on the Sunday. Adele Steck of Red Leaf Nursery in Port Alfred will demonstrate how cuttings of succulents can be planted in egg shell halves and then planted straight into a pot or into the garden. This workshop will be suitable for children aged between six and ten years.
At 1pm on the Sunday there will be more music that will enthral children of all ages – the St Andrew’s College Pipe Band will perform in the outside atrium, and “Flower of Scotland” is bound to be one of the tunes they will play, quite appropriately. Then it’s time for the flower and plant competition prize-giving that takes place in the Olive Schreiner hall inside the Monument at 2pm.
No doubt all those children who are winners in the various categories will be there, eagerly waiting for their names to be called out. Of course, children will be accompanying their parents as they stroll around the numerous commercial garden and food stalls, looking for an opportunity to spend their pocket money.
For more flower festival information visit website www.grahamstownflowerfestival.co.za
