The 63rd annual Evanston Garden Fair on Saturday and Sunday saw warm weather and vendors as young as 8 years old.
The Lincolnwood Garden Club of Evanston hosted the yearly fair to raise money for beautification and sustainability projects in Evanston. The club sold annual and perrenial flowers and hosted vendors selling gardening-related decorations and pots.
“This event is a part of my life and a lot of Evanstonians’ lives,” said club president Sue Capillo, adding that she used to attend the event with her mother and aunts when she was young, and later brought her own children.
Capillo said the weather this year was exceptionally warm.
“People who have lived here know that garden fair weather is usually cold and rainy,” Capillo said. “One year, I had to sit in a sleeping bag because it was so cold.”
Of the eight vendors at the event, the youngest were Wilmette residents Audra Kimbell, 10, and Dawson Kimbell, 8. The siblings said they decided to begin a business they call Hostas and Co., because their backyard was full of the green, lilly-like hosta plant and they had an interest in gardening.
“It’s really fun to eat lunch here, sit behind the booth and take care of customers,” Audra said.
The Kimbells started their business selling the hostas at a stand at the bottom of their driveway six weeks ago, using an honor system that relied on customers to leave money in their mailbox, Audra said. Using that money, they paid the fee to become a vendor at the fair, said their mother Becky Kimbell. They had made a profit within a few hours of the Saturday fair.
“I’m very proud they wanted to invest the $50,” Becky Kimbell said. “When you’re 8 and 10 … it’s pretty difficult to part with $50.”
Although the fair came to an end on Sunday, the Kimbells said they will continue selling the plants at their home and hope to return next year.
Jan Schrubel, co-chair of the garden fair, said the fair has been a resource for environmental sustainability in the the city of Evanston since the garden club formed in 1929.
The club will meet to determine how funds raised from the garden fair will be dispersed, said Jane Hampson, the group’s other co-chair. Hampson and Schrubel could not provide an estimate of the total amount raised, but said the funds will likely be used to develop civic gardens and place edible gardens in Evanston schools, she said.
“I think the club contributes a knowledge of plants, education and plant care within the civic gardens to the city of Evanston,” Hampson said.
