Hagerstown Garden Club traffic circle plans get boost

February 08, 2008|By MARLO BARNHART

HAGERSTOWN -- A plan to landscape the traffic circle in front of City Park in Hagerstown recently received a shot in the arm when the members of the Hagerstown Garden Club received two significant gifts.

"An anonymous donor has given us an antique bronze fountain worth more than $60,000," said Christine Tischer, garden club member and chair of the project.

Add to that a $15,000 pledge from the Marjorie Fleigh Foundation for construction of a pool around the fountain, and the club members are elated, Tischer said.

With that good start, the club now is working to raise additional funds Sunday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the showroom at Younger Toyota at 1945 Dual Highway, where a wine tasting and jewelry sale will be held.

Vintner Pierluigi Giachi of the Tenuta Torciano Vineyard in San Gimignano, Italy, will lead the event. Tickets cost $100 per person and are limited to 150. No tickets will be sold at the door.

The idea of the landscaping project was brought up by Denise Pennington, who began her two-year term as president of the 80-year-old club in May 2007.

The Hagerstown Garden Club already maintains the grounds of the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts and has since 1938.

"Landscaping the circle fits so perfectly with our work at the museum," Tischer said.

Pennington said the circle is the first thing people see when they pass or enter the park or the museum.

"It's a wonderful project ... very exciting," she said.

Tischer said the statue features four muses, each holding something pertaining to water.

In addition to the statue and the surrounding pool, the club's plans are to plant perennials in parts of the circle. That part still is being formulated.

A number of grants also are being explored, Tischer said. With the cooperation of the City of Hagerstown, the club is looking into money that might be available from National Recreation Trails.

The Hagerstown Garden Club has 57 members, and meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month at the museum. The club is a member of the Washington County Council of Garden Clubs, which is made up of representatives from about seven other garden clubs.

For more information on the club or the project, call 301-739-4534.

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