Elise Kendal helps out some young customers
The Grantham Recreation Department runs Music in the Meadow which is a quintessential small town event. where families bring their lawn chairs and listen to talented performers. After their picnic dinners, they often are up for something sweet, and that's where the garden club comes in.
Each week a couple of volunteers don the GGC aprons, load up a table with home baked goodies, and accept donations for the scholarship fund in exchange for the sweets. They chat with the performers, the food truck folks, soccer moms and dads, couples, and lots and lots of children.
I love it when a tot comes to the table clutching a dollar bill and picks out the cookie of his or her choice. The parents aren’t there (though I suspect they’re watching nearby) as the child has his or her first solo purchasing experience. Definitely a rite of passage!
Five-year-old Sutton is a regular at our table and calls us the Olive Garden Ladies according to her mom Emily Rinde-Thorsen who runs Grantham Rec. Another regular, four-year-old Ludo recommended that we make enough cookies to give one to every single person in the large crowd. He and his pal Darby had an absolute blast at the first event this year when a sudden downpour interrupted the music. They ran around the field getting as wet as they could and then figured out that could get even wetter if they stood under the edge of the GGC awning. They ran to each side begging the tall grownups to push the awning. In true GGC spirit, we obliged.
Over these two summers, we have doled out more than a thousand cookies and brownies. Imagine the hours of time the volunteer bakers have clocked making their sweet treats. None of this could happen without them. Last summer, Kristina Cole attended a concert and offered to bake cookies and she wasn’t even a member (then).
If you haven’t had a chance to attend Music in the Meadow yet, consider coming on August 22nd or 29th. Bring your appetite ;-)
Each week a couple of volunteers don the GGC aprons, load up a table with home baked goodies, and accept donations for the scholarship fund in exchange for the sweets. They chat with the performers, the food truck folks, soccer moms and dads, couples, and lots and lots of children.
I love it when a tot comes to the table clutching a dollar bill and picks out the cookie of his or her choice. The parents aren’t there (though I suspect they’re watching nearby) as the child has his or her first solo purchasing experience. Definitely a rite of passage!
Five-year-old Sutton is a regular at our table and calls us the Olive Garden Ladies according to her mom Emily Rinde-Thorsen who runs Grantham Rec. Another regular, four-year-old Ludo recommended that we make enough cookies to give one to every single person in the large crowd. He and his pal Darby had an absolute blast at the first event this year when a sudden downpour interrupted the music. They ran around the field getting as wet as they could and then figured out that could get even wetter if they stood under the edge of the GGC awning. They ran to each side begging the tall grownups to push the awning. In true GGC spirit, we obliged.
Over these two summers, we have doled out more than a thousand cookies and brownies. Imagine the hours of time the volunteer bakers have clocked making their sweet treats. None of this could happen without them. Last summer, Kristina Cole attended a concert and offered to bake cookies and she wasn’t even a member (then).
If you haven’t had a chance to attend Music in the Meadow yet, consider coming on August 22nd or 29th. Bring your appetite ;-)
Sutton who coined the Olive Garden Ladies
Under the GGC awning with Carolee Shevlin and Betsy Fowler with Ludo and Darby's fathers Emmanuel and Adam
Ludo and Darby
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