By DORIS COOK - Staff Writer
BURTON — Chamber of Commerce members Mamie Tompkins, Connie Bartholomew and Nancy Bonnema want raindrops to stay away Saturday for the first Secret Garden Tour.
Fourteen home gardens plus eight other garden stops will be featured during the public tours, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. In case it rains, the event will be switched to Sunday.
Tickets for the tour are $10 each and are available at the Chamber of Commerce Log Cabin in Burton Village Park, and at A.H. Christianson’s Floral Design Studio and Apple Butter Antique Shop in town.
Not only gardeners, but also visitors of all ages will find something to enjoy at the local gardens inside and just outside the village. A map will be available to direct visitors to the featured gardens.
Among the stops are the Burton Public Library reading garden, plus a private arboretum planted by the event’s honorary chairman, John Gander, and other public gardens.
At the town square, visitors will discover a marketplace of summer products and services available from vendors. Represented in the park are plant specialists from Eagle Creek Garden Center, Lowe’s Greenhouse, Bremec’s, Burton Floral & Garden, Wildlife Garden, Sunnybrook Farm and Wildwood Gardens. Joy Pallant will be marketing her new series of roses.
Visitors also can enjoy a picnic in the park by ordering food from one of the four restaurants in Burton or by taking their own picnic baskets.
Gardening enthusiasts can check out equipment from birdhouses to furniture to buildings. Stores represented include Birder’s Eco-Yard, Tom Hall Antique Iron, Middlefield Farm & Garden, M&M; Rustic Furniture, Mullet’s Country Cedar, Countryside Furnishings, Claridon Barns, Jackson Fence Co. and Pinecraft Storage Barns.
The Burton chamber’s scarecrow mascot, Sunny Sugarbush, will greet visitors on the square. Persons greeting the scarecrow can opt either to have a photo or portrait done by local artists, according to Bartholomew.
