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Benton woman has big presence at state flower show |
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Thursday, 01 March 2007 |
Jo Krallman of Benton, a member of Riverdale Garden Club, is president of the Arkansas Federation of Garden Club and will be heavily involved this week in a state flower show.
 Jo Krallman of Benton, a member of Riverdale Garden Club, is the first Riverdale member to represent the organization as state president. She will be involved in the state flower show scheduled Friday-Sunday at the Statehouse Convention Center in conjunction with the Arkansas Flower and Garden Show Inc., a not-for-profit volunteer organization that gives scholarships to horticulture students in Arkansas. (Photo special to the Courier) Pat Haering of Hot Springs is serving as Krallman’s general chairman for the state flower show scheduled Friday-Sunday at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. The show is held in conjunction with the Arkansas Flower and Garden Show Inc., a not-for-profit volunteer organization that awards scholarships to horticulture students in Arkansas. This is the 16th year AFGC Inc. has partnered with several groups including Arkansas Master Gardeners, the Arkansas Florist Association, Farm Bureau of Arkansas, and the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Services. “Arkansas Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc. Celebrates 75 years with Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow” is the theme of the show. Krallman said she chose the theme for the show because the state organization is celebrating 75 years of existence during her two-year administration. Krallman, Haering and Kathy Storey of Hot Springs wrote the schedule that calls for flower arrangements, horticulture, and educational and youth exhibits to reflect the past and present of the organization, which includes 89 clubs in the state with more than 2000 members of the AFGC Inc. In addition to Riverdale Garden Club of Benton, other area clubs represented in the show are Men’s Village Garden Club, Designing Women and Village Pines, all in Hot Springs Village. Krallman is the first Riverdale member to represent the organization as state president. She is an international instructor for National Garden Clubs Inc. Flower Show Schools and Symposiums. On Feb. 9 and 10 she was a guest speaker at the National Instructors’ Symposium in Baton Rouge, La. Her topic was “The Capsule-Functional Table.” She designed and showed a table to the group of instructors The design division of the upcoming show is titled “Yesterday — Traditional, Today — Imaginative, Tomorrow — Only A Dream.” Eighteen classes of designs are planned with four entries set in each class. The public is invited to enter the horticulture division of the show, which is composed of high quality named specimens of plants grown by the exhibitor. The theme of this division is “Yesterday-A Dream,” “Today — A Reality” and “Tomorrow — A Favorite.” “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” the Advanced Standard Flower Show, is no longer found on the same floor as the greater portion of the Arkansas Flower and Garden Show where the gardens and vendors are located. The show has grown through the years, so two years ago the flower show portion and the speakers portion were moved to the ballrooms above. In all the crowds, many visitors fail to see the signs to the the flower arrangements and horticulture in the ballrooms. At the entrance and the ticket booth to the show, the visitor must ride an escalator or elevator to the next floor where they will find the ballroom housing the “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” show. The overall theme chosen for the Arkansas Flower and Garden Show is “Carousel of Gardens.” The show opens at 9 a.m. Friday and Saturday and closes at 6 p.m. Hours on Sunday are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free parking is available at War Memorial Stadium with a free shuttle to the show offered from 8:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Portions of Cantrell Road will be blocked off Sunday because of the Little Rock Marathon. If driving to the event on this day, the Statehouse Convention Center may be accessed from the Main St. exit of Interstate 30. Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for senior adults and $1 for children. A three-day pass is available for $10. National Garden Clubs Inc. provides education, resources, and national networking opportunities for its members to promote the love of gardening, floral design, and civic and environmental responsibility.
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