Horticultural Outreach for 5,000+ with Fall Flower & Garden Fest

How does an Extension Specialist maximize the outreach potential in horticulture and home gardening?  This is what this presentation attempts to address in a PechaKucha of exactly 20 slides.  Fall Flower & Garden Fest is a culmination of 34 years of evolution and refinement which began as a small experiment station field day (~200 people) for local vegetable growers in Mississippi.  Beginning in the late 1980s, major changes were introduced. These included transitioning from a commercial grower event to one for the general gardening public. To accomplish this, several major changes were implemented: broadening of the diversity of vegetables from a few commercial varieties to about 400 home garden and commercial selections, including specialty crops and ethnic vegetables; adding herbs, roses, annual flower trials, perennials, ornamental grasses, and bananas; displaying winners of the All-America Selections® and Mississippi Medallion programs; installing specialty gardens such as butterfly and hummingbird gardens and a tropical garden; putting special features into the 3-acre garden such as a climbing garden, vegetable tunnel, and a hardscape pergola with both shading and seating. In addition to creating “gardens within the garden”, an essential element of growing a gardening event includes education.  Currently the Fest has 15 Garden Seminars and 6 guided Walking Tours each day, several demonstrations and workshops, on-site soil testing, and a Plant Doctor Table to address any and all horticultural questions. One of the most successful changes was to bring in nurseries and garden centers to sell plants directly to the public. Sales of plants and garden-related items are extremely popular among participants with thousands of plants being sold each day. As the event grew, it was changed to a 2-day program. Other infrastructure changes that are critical to an event this size are establishing a steering committee with regular planning meetings, creating and updating a website (http://msucares.com/fallfest),  arranging for food vendors, solicitation and management of exhibitors and speakers, coordination with other agencies, volunteers, and university personnel, promotion and marketing, and evaluation.  The Fest has attracted between 5,000 and 6,000 people from across the region during each of the past few years and we believe it to be one of the largest home gardening events in the southeastern U.S.