Council Gives Green Light to Garden Show
- March 7th 2025
- City News
Gerald Brazel via Creative Commons
By Quinnly Raducha
University of New England
Memorial Gym will be turned into a spring showcase on March 29 when area plant growers, landscapers and related businesses display their work in a combination garden show and plant sale featuring hands-on workshops.
The Sanford Springvale Beautification Committee is planning the event, which will raise funds to help revamp the Sullivan Memorial Garden at the Main Street Marketplace (formerly the Midtown Mall). City Councilors on Tuesday gave the committee permission to use the city-owned gym for the event.
“The money will be donated right back into the Midtown Mall stairs and the garden beds,” Parks and Recreation Director Brady Lloyd explained to the council.
Bridget Salantri of the Beautification Committee said improving the mall area fits the mission of the committee and its parent group, Friends of Downtown. “We are looking to fundraise specifically for the Sullivan Memorial Garden in Sanford. It is in the center of our business district, and it needs help,” she said. The program has contacted Matt Landry, who did the landscaping along Partners Bank, and he is willing to take on the project.
Salantri later said she expects the public will enjoy the show. “I love snow, but I’ve had enough,” she said. “By the end of March, people are going to be looking for something green.”
The program will include workshops on pollinator plantings, herbal skin salves, and beekeeping. Vendors who’ve signed up include Farm Fields in Lebanon and the Sanford Regional Technical Center.
The event will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 29. Admission is $5. For more information, contact Salantri at 267.261.2122 or bsalantri@gmail.com.
In other business on Tuesday, the City Council discussed authorization for the city manager to sign a purchase and sale agreement between the city and the Sanford Sewage District for the property at 281 River St. for $340,000. The district hopes to break ground on a new office building near the sewage treatment ponds this spring, after which the city Parks and Recreation Department will use the current office building.
The city and the district had signed a memorandum of understanding for the purchase in December 2023.
