Club celebrates the year with luau theme – Sentinel and Enterprise

The Laurelwood Garden Club recently celebrated the end of the season with its annual meeting. Pictured from left to right are Tisha Schiavitti, Treasurer, Kathryn Nowosielski, Past President, and Julie Palioca, Beautification and Public Relations. (COURTESY OF LAURELWOOD GARDEN CLUB)

FITCHBURG – The Laurelwood Garden Club recently celebrated another year of gatherings and activities, all of which helped inspire community creativity in the garden.

The club held a luau-style annual meeting, transforming the Nectar Room of the Double Tree Hilton hotel into a Hawaiian oasis decorated with palm trees, pineapple decor and island flowers. President Kathryn Nowosielski of Leominster looked back on the year’s various programs and noted that nearly 50% of the membership attended the meetings. For her presidency over the past five years, Nowosielski received a Federation President pin and a bouquet of red roses.

The Scholarship Committee announced the recipient of the Laurelwood Garden Club Scholarship: Camden Riddle, a graduate of Lunenburg High School. Riddle will attend the University of California – San Diego to study political science.

“The program committee will meet during the summer to gather ideas and information and to select and confirm speakers/workshops and events,” said Julie Palioca, the club’s public relations officer. “A calendar of events will be created and distributed to members prior to the September meeting, listing all programs for the coming year.”

The new club officers for the 2024-2025 year were elected and announced for a one-year term: Debra Vilandry of Lancaster was elected president, Laurie Bebick of Fitchburg was elected vice president, Karen Roy Fluet of Fitchburg was elected secretary, Tisha Schiavitti of Leominster was elected treasurer, and Claire Lavin of Ashby was elected assistant treasurer.

The club also reminded participants to mark the date for the 4th Annual Picnic in the Park on Friday, July 19, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Renaissance Park, where the club will sponsor a floral display in a converted half-ton horse trough in memory of Julia Casey.

“Festivities include a boxed lunch, a game of cornhole, a trivia, a hat contest and a party theme that has nothing to do with a birthday theme,” Palioca said.

This year’s urban beautification project was made possible by a grant awarded to the Laurelwood Garden Club under the project title “Arts/Beautification/Public/Benefit” by the Fitchburg Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

The club offers monthly programs with flower arrangements, workshops, flower demonstrations and lectures by local experts on various topics with PowerPoint presentations.

“We are also proud to offer a scholarship to a local high school student pursuing a college education in horticulture, botany, agriculture, landscape design, floral design or environmental science,” Palioca added. “We are excited to partner with the Fitchburg Art Museum for Art in Bloom and to continue our annual Civic Beautification Project to plant 1,000 daffodils in October.”

The Laurelwood Garden Club is affiliated with the National Garden Clubs Incorporated (New England Region) and the Garden Club Federation of Mass. Inc.

Meetings are held every second Friday of the month from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the Fitchburg Art Museum, 185 Elm St.

“Membership is open to anyone who enjoys gardening in any form and is interested in floral design and working with flowers,” Palioca said.

Membership dues for the upcoming year 2024-2025 are currently being collected. The club will hold its first regular meeting on Friday, September 13th.

For more information about membership, visit gcfm.org/laurelwoodgardenclub or contact Julie Palioca at 988-537-7630.