Milan Garden Club celebrates anniversary

MILAN — The Milan Garden Club is celebrating its 90th anniversary. The club was formed by 27 ladies from the village of Milan on June 17, 1933. Their purpose was to become more skillful gardeners and to help preserve and enhance the natural beauty of the village. More recently, they have updated their purpose to also protect native trees, plants, wildlife and the environment in order to preserve and conserve our natural resources. This local club is a member of Garden Club of Ohio and National Garden Clubs The Milan Garden Club has made a number of contributions to the Milan community since its inception. A major project was the fulfillment of a vision to create a statue of a young Thomas Edison and his mother, Nancy Elliott Edison, which depicted a mother's love for teaching her son to learn. The bronze sculpture had a $125,000 price tag and required plant sales, bake sales, cast iron replicas of the Edison Birthplace in the form of banks and doorsteps — hand-painted by garden club members — and donations. Three years later, on May 19, 1984, the Thomas A. Edison memorial sculpture was dedicated and unveiled in the Milan Village Square. The garden club's Christmas Tree Lane was a favorite around the area from 1977 to 1998. For 21 years, the century-old Township Hall ballroom was transformed into a scene of peace, beauty, joy and the scents of the holiday season that promoted family and community togetherness. Another ongoing project is the annual Sunflower Seed Contest each year. Members package seeds and distribute them to elementary school students to plant. The children learn how to grow and care for their plants. They observe how bees gather pollen and nectar and how birds forage for the mature seeds in the flowers. Students select their best specimens and enter them into the contest each September and are awarded monetary prizes. As a successful fundraising project, the club hosts an annual spring auction in which members present floral decor, garden items, baked goods and more. They also collect donations of flowers, statuary, garden gifts and gift certificates from various businesses for auction. In 2021, the garden club planted a red maple tree in Village Square. They called it the healing tree and placed a granite plaque recognizing the extensive impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic. With the passage of time, the Milan Garden Club has added planters on the village square, ferns and buntings in the gazebo, and wreaths to adorn the iron gates of the Civil War monument on patriotic holidays. The club dedicated a Blue Star Memorial, which developed into Veterans Plaza, where engraved pavers are installed for local veterans who served in the Armed Forces.