'91 Ann Arbor Show Adds Day, Hours, Space

'91 Ann Arbor show adds day, hours, space

Some 23,000 winter-weary patrons tunneled into Yost Ice Arena over the three-day 1990 Ann Arbor Flower and Garden Show.

Elbow to elbow they studied the exotic displays; buses from all over the state jammed the parking lot.

No one expected the quarter-million dollar production, three years in the planning, to come off without a hitch. But show manager Judith Corkran Katch hopes the hitch has been fixed by adding a day, expanding the hours and reworking the traffic flow.

The 1991 Flower and Garden Show will run April 11-14, 9 a.m. to . 9 p.m. (closing 5 p.m. Sunday). This year’s tickets will designate time slots. The marketplace will move to an enclosed outdoor pavilion, adding more space for vendors. Shuttle buses to and from Yost should relieve the parking congestion.

The show was conceived by Matthaei Botanical Gardens Associate Director Patricia Hopkinson to support the gardens’ public programs.

Michael Hommel, superintendent of buildings and grounds at the botanical gardens, moonlights as show designer. His challenge: to mask Yost’s 20,000-square feet of bleachers and create a sense of intimacy under the cavernous dome.

Last year Ann Arbor’s construction community pitched in $40,000 worth of labor, materials and cash to assist staging that can be reassembled year after year.

Inside the arena, representatives of the Federated Garden Clubs of Michigan have devised 17 design categories to join the 26 horticultural categories adhering to the guidelines of a “standard flower show.”

Viewers can do more than stop and smell the roses. The show categories are open to everyone, beginner or expert. Persons who have a knack for flower arranging, or own a cactus that could be a contender, may call the botanical gardens at (313) 998-7343 for an entry handbook.

Joe O’Neal, owner of O’Neal Construction, and Edie Goldenberg, U-M Dean of Literature, Science and the Arts, are honorary cochairs of the 1991 show, entitled “A Gardener’s Holiday.”

Advance tickets to the show are $8 for adults, $6 for children aged 12 and under, available through the Michigan Union, Ticketmaster, Hudson’s or by calling (313) 763-TKTS.