JCMGA Annual Picnic 2024: A Great Time Was Had By All

Every year, Jackson County Master Gardener Association has an annual picnic for its members and their families. At this event, we celebrate our many accomplishments of the year and honor the members who have gone above and beyond in supporting and/or furthering our organization. It has usually been held in August, but this year our Member Services Working Group wisely decided to hold it in June so as to avoid the high heat and smoke from potential forest fires.

Our Annual Picnic was organized by our dedicated Member Services Working Group – Ann Ackles, Colet Allen, Lucy Pylkki, Teresa Jarratt, and Barbara Low. We had special help from Sandy Hammond, Marcie Katz and Vic Low.  Many thanks to this team. We had fun planning the event and everyone seemed to enjoy the picnic celebration. I also want to thank Sherms/Food For Less for giving us a great discount on our food items.

Robert Coffan was our guest speaker. He is associated with the Monarch Advocacy Center and gave a wonderful presentation on the monarch butterfly. Robert brought two 5-day-old and one 2-week-old caterpillars. It was great to see the actual Monarch caterpillars! It was an informative and fun presentation.

As part of this event, we had a contest to see which class year of Master Gardeners had the most attendees. Classes 2024 and 2023 won! They received fruit popsicles and French Marigold plants.

We raised $150 from selling tickets for our 50/50 Raffle. The winner of the raffle was Kathy Apple!  She donated her winnings back to JCMGA.

At the picnic, we presented several JCMGA and OMGA awards and recognitions. Please see a separate article in this Garden Beet edition with the details of these awards and recognitions.

We also presented some fun member awards:

• Marcie Katz – Spring Garden Fair Leader Extraordinaire
• Lucy Pylkki – Spring Garden Fair Leader Extraordinaire
• Brian Smith – Parking Lot Leader Extraordinaire
• Joe Alvord – Parking Lot Leader Extraordinaire
• Blake Elliot – Best Stand-up Comedian
• Jane Moyer – Practicum Mama
• Virginia Brown – Practicum Pinch Hitter
• John Koval – Go To Guy
• Nicole Smith – Go To Gal
• Bruce Millbank – Pun Master
• Marie Carabone – Friend of the Garden
• Grace Florjancic – Leader of The Pack

Finally, we did a special tribute to Marcie Katz and Lucy Pylkki for all their hard work in planning and organizing our 2024 Spring Garden Fair.  The Member Services Working Group sang a special rendition of “Singing In The Rain” with parasols and some dancing.  It was great fun!

Thank you to all who came to celebrate with us!