Wichita Eagle
By Annie Calovich
In this depleted economy, Botanica’s director says it’s “a miracle” that Botanica has received enough grants and gifts in the past year — $1.5 million — to prepare for construction on a long- planned children’s garden.
The garden is the key to Botanica’s future, director Marty Miller said this week in announcing that Phase I of fundraising for the garden had been completed, putting it on track to open in 2011.
Botanica’s existing gardens aren’t making enough from operations — rentals, memberships, attendance — to stay afloat, Miller said. Sponsors and other donors are making up the difference, he said, but Botanica is hoping that a big new attraction like the children’s garden will at least double attendance and endear itself to an age group that will keep coming back for years to come.
“We’re feeling the effects of the economy like everyone else,” Miller said. “Everything’s down 5 to 10 percent.”
That makes it even more amazing that Botanica has managed to raise $1.5 million to match a challenge donation of the same amount given last year by Barry and Paula Downing for the children’s garden, Miller said.
“What has happened this past year has been a miracle,” he said.
When the economy tanked, initial donors pulled back, but Botanica’s development office went to work, shoring up contributions from corporations, foundations and friends, Miller said.
More than a dozen major gifts and many smaller ones have come in, he said. They range from $500 from a little girl who contributed her own money and raised more, to $550,000 from community icon Jean Garvey, who grew up in Riverside and climbed trees where the children’s garden is to be built, on an acre just west of the current gardens. Granny Jean’s Treehouse in the children’s garden will be named for her.
A $50,000 grant from the Kemper Foundation early this month met the Downings’ challenge. Miller hopes that construction on the children’s garden, to be named for the Downings, can begin next spring.
“This is a testament to the faith our community has in Botanica and the importance of this project to Botanica,” Rich Vliet, co-chairman of the capital campaign committee, said at a news conference Thursday at Botanica.
The children’s garden will include a farm area where kids can do their own planting, a “monster woods” of whimsical tree creatures, an amphitheater, intimate areas for story-telling and a fun maze.
In Phase II of the fundraising effort, Miller said that $1.5 million will be sought, mainly to sustain the children’s garden. He also has plans to apply for federal stimulus money to construct an LEED education center for the garden , which means it would be rated the most environmentally sustainable by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. If the proposal is denied, Miller said that the education center would be scaled to whatever donations were received for it.
An education director, Pam Harden, is developing a curriculum for the children’s garden, Miller said. Botanica expects the number of children taking part in its education programs to increase at least fivefold with the new garden; 9,000 children took part in programs in 2008.
“Hopefully this garden will increase children’s experience of nature, how wheat grows and what alfalfa smells like,” Miller said. “We’re hoping to bring those senses to the inner city.”
Miller said that while the bad economy had hurt Botanica as it has hurt other attractions — loss of sponsors killed its concert series, for example — there has been a bright spot: Discounted admission of $3 on Thursdays has been popular and will be continued indefinitely.
Miller said that in difficult economic times, Botanica is needed more than ever, as a stress-buster.
“This is one of those places you can come for a reality check, and it’s beautiful.”
Botanica also on Thursday unveiled a new logo designed by Greteman Group, featuring a butterfly in the middle of a flower.
“It’s a new face for Botanica” for a new era, Miller said.
“We’re trying to keep it changing so it’s a very beautiful and colorful place to visit.”
© The Wichita Eagle, 2009
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