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Preparations for Gardens ‘Winter Celebration’ underway
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McKenzie Reese, 18, left, Chris Amill Jr., 17, Roosevelt Cooper IV, 18, and Toni Chahine, 17, all Cardinal Mooney High School students, decorate a tree at Fellows Riverside Gardens. Beginning Saturday, the gardens will have a Winter Celebration with the Gingerbread Garden theme that will run through Jan. 4.
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
A sea of red, white and pink poinsettias gathered around a Christmas tree, gingerbread people dangled from the ceiling and the alluring smell of Fraser fir trees decorated to perfection are just some of the elements at Fellows Riverside Gardens.
Workers hustled to create the whimsical Gingerbread Lane first seen as guests enter through the doors for the Winter Celebration with the Gingerbread Garden theme that begins Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fellows is at 123 McKinley Ave.
“We want your heart to smile when you walk through the gardens,” said Lynn Zocolo, horticulture educator for Mill Creek MetroParks and the coordinator of Winter Celebration.
The celebration has been a community event for more than a decade and has grown every year. It first started as a Sunday afternoon activity. It now runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays until Jan. 4. It will be closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
Guests can see floral designs in Gingerbread Lane at the gardens and 46 trees decorated by local organizations. For children this year, there is Delphinium’s Gingerbread Shoppe. Inside are learning stations for children such as the scent board for them to connect different scents with the seasoning, such as cinnamon and ginger, for example.
“We are trying to get the kids to realize where their food is coming from,” Zocolo said.
Roosevelt Cooper IV had his hands filled with ribbon, popcorn and other tree decorations with a smile wide across his face. He worked with his Cardinal Mooney High School classmates in the basement at the gardens where other representatives from various Mahoning Valley organizations decorated trees Wednesday.
Cooper and his classmates, Chris Amill Jr., McKenzie Reese and Toni Chahine, all seniors, came to the gardens with Susan Trewella, their Christian service class teacher.
Trewella has more than 60 students in the class and asked the four to come with her to help with the tree decorating at the gardens — a first for Cardinal Mooney.
“We were one of the first to be here and we will be here with the cleaning staff,” Trewella said.
More than 140 tiny cardinals, the school’s mascot, line the ends of the tree, and pictures of all the seniors were glued to gingerbread ornaments to represent the school.
Around the corner were Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley workers and volunteers busy with setting the bow made of food labels on top of their tree. The staff got creative with little grocery bags filled with groceries and food labels made into ornaments, all to remind guests there are Valley residents in need.
“It’s an honor,” said Paige Tomlinson Miller, volunteer coordinator for Second Harvest. “It’s such a wonderful event. It promotes community.”
Another community event at the gardens is Winter Nights from 5 to 7 p.m. Dec. 14, 21 and 28, where visitors can see an expanded light show featuring 45,000 lights.