Catch the spring fever at Bloom & Grow festival

Spring has sprung, and the Bloom & Grow Garden Society is celebrating the season with its annual Spring Fever in the Garden festival Saturday, April 1, and Sunday, April 2. The garden club is partnering with the city of Winter Garden to bring garden experts, flowers and plants, outdoor-themed merchandise booths, a children’s zone and more to the community.

The 168-member Bloom & Grow will be manning booths and walking around during the festival making sure guests have a great experience as they celebrate spring.

This year’s festival stretches along Plant Street from Park Avenue to Dillard Street and will have more than 170 booths lining the streets with lawn- and garden-inspired merchandise such as jewelry, knickknacks, yard art and signs. A number of food trucks will sell meals, snacks and drinks.

Club officials said the number of plant vendors and the variety offered, as well as the number of participants in the chalk art contest, is the most the festival has ever had.

The Chalkin’ it Up! Art contest will encompass the entire area, including sidewalks, around City Hall. Each participant will have a 6x6 square and in which to create something nature- or garden-related and appropriate for all ages to view.

Prizes will be awarded in numerous categories, including adult, elementary, middle and high school individuals or groups; family groups; People’s Choice; and Best in Show.

Bloom & Grow will have a Pollinator Power booth this year to educate folks and inspire them to create more pollinator habitats through sustainable gardening practices, habitat creation and conservation. Attendees can stop by the booth and ask questions about using their landscapes, yards and patios to help the pollinators.

There will be horticultural superstars staffing the "Ask the Expert" booth. Each person who asks a question will get a special house or garden plant from Bloom & Grow.

There are three free shuttle lots this year: at Ninth and Plant streets, Wells Fargo on Dillard and Dillard Street Elementary School. The shuttle will let off and pickup at Dillard and Plant.

The Bloom and Grow Spring Fever T-shirts have been a staple at the festival for more than 20 years, and Winter Garden artist Andy Crabtree has designed each one. This year's graphic speaks to the club’s special projects such as Pollinator Power and the Monarch Project. They will be available at the Bloom & Grow booths during the festival.

Up-to-date information is being posted this week on the garden club’s website, springfeverinthegarden.org.

KIDS ZONE

Booths and activities geared to children will offer fun ways to learn about nature and the environment. There will be hands-on crafts, face painting, balloon animals, a stilt walker and more.

Chick-fil-A’s performing cows will entertain from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. The Winter Garden Library will be set up to provide new library cards or renew old ones, West Orange High School will bring a petting zoo, and other organizations will offer fun, games and information.

ENTERTAINMENT

Music and entertainment will be showcased throughout the two-day festival in front of Winter Garden City Hall.

On Saturday, The Jim Young Trio plays from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., 3MPowered performs from noon to 12:45 p.m., 1950s and ’60s band Astronomics will be on stage from 1 to 4 p.m., and juggler Bruce Sarafian will perform from 4 to 5 p.m.

On Sunday, The Sandy Back Porch Band plays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the Citrus Singers Girl Scout Choir will perform from 1 to 1:45 p.m., and the Orlando Gentlemen of Jazz & Dixieland will entertain from 2 to 4 p.m.