“pop Your Own Corn”

Autumn found the new Berkshire Garden Center well on its way, but income from memberships and gifts had not kept pace with expenditures. A Harvest Festival was staged on October 15. It brought young and old together in a rollicking old-time fair. Fruits, vegetables, cider, apple butter, homemade bread and cakes were sold. "Pop your own corn" read one sign, and the pony rides made a hit with the children. So successful was this festival, both as a money-raiser and a social event, that it has become an annual occasion to close the garden season. The next year, 1936, the Berkshire Garden Center was incorporated, and a number of new projects were undertaken.

One of these was a planting of native shrubbery along the highway, which won a prize in the Berkshire Eagle's Highway Beautification Contest. The property, consisting of buildings and five and one-half acres of land deeded to the new corporation. The years 1937 to 1941 were devoted to healthy growth and development. As herbs came into the limelight, a plot was devoted to these pungent plants. A home for Director and Mrs. Simpson was acquired across the road, releasing space for a larger assembly room to accommodate the growing membership. A kitchen was thus made available so that tea could be served after meetings. The children's program was expanded, and several other events were staged, such as a country-dance and a fashion show. These both added interest and raised needed funds for the growing Center.

A dwarf fruit orchard was planted as a gift from the Great Barrington Garden Club. This also included grape vines and flowering crab apple trees. In 1939 the Center set up a model garden center exhibit at the New York Spring Flower Show, in cooperation with the Boyce Thompson Institute. A display of woods, a hobby of Mr. Simpson's, was shown at the New York World's Fair. In 1940 the Williamstown Garden Club made a “shady area” possible. In sharp contrast, a "sun-heated pit" was constructed with the help of royalties from the Center's own Book of Herb Cookery. A flower show for children was held in August, followed by the annual Harvest Festival in October. In brief, the young garden institution was beginning to throw its weight around.

National recognition came in 1941 in the form of a medal award from the National Council of State Garden Clubs, "for the Garden Center which, in proportion to its size, has performed the greatest service to the community." The same year a legacy came from Mrs. Carl A. deGersdorff, a founder, of $2,500 to be used as a start on an endowment fund.

By: davidbunch

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