Lyndonville couple welcomed crowd for garden tour

Provided photos: Flowers bloomed all over at Jim and Connie Fisher’s garden on Millers Road for the “Back to the Garden” celebration Wednesday night to benefit the Cobblestone Museum. The garden includes a heron figurine, and a wrought-iron arch.

LYNDONVILLE – What threatened to be a complete washout actually turned out to be a very successful event for the Cobblestone Museum on Wednesday evening.

That was their annual mid-summer garden tour, this year at the wonderful gardens of Jim and Connie Fisher on Millers Road.

Wednesday morning, Shirley Bright Neeper, who co-chaired the event with Joyce Chizick, e-mailed that she was heart-broken over the weather forecast, which predicted high winds, severe thunderstorms and heavy rain.

Bright expected nobody would come and they would be sitting under the tent eating up the delicious snacks Chizick had prepared.

Miraculously, the weather broke mid-afternoon and the sun even partially came out.

 And so did the people.

There were 80 guests who came to view the exotic gardens at the Fisher home, all in full bloom, and enjoy the snacks. Neeper was sure attendance would have been double, had it not been for the weather.

Guests and Cobblestone Museum volunteers enjoyed conversation under the tent during Wednesday’s garden tour. From left are Chris Sartwell of Albion, Holley Mayor Mark Bower and Sue and Jim Bonafini of Kendall. Sue is assistant director of the Cobblestone Society.

Doris Antinore of Albion was one of the guests, who couldn’t stop raving about the evening.

“The gardens were absolutely beautiful,” she said. “Especially the lilies. They were all colors. I can’t imagine having that much garden to care for. They were so beautiful I can’t even describe it. I’ve never seen anything like it. And the snacks were so delicious.”

Neeper said everyone who came had a wonderful time. One band didn’t come because of the weather. However, Mike Grammatico offered to play his saxophone under the tent throughout the entire evening.

“How lucky we were the flowers didn’t get beat up by the wind and rain,” Neeper said. “A lady just a mile north said her lilies were laying on the ground. God was good to us.”

Cobblestone Museum director Doug Farley added his praise to the event.

“It was a huge success, even with the threat of terrible weather,” Farley said. “Overall, we were very lucky. We had a good turnout and gardens were beautiful.”

He extended special thanks to Garden Walk Chairs, and Shirley Bright Neeper and Joyce Chizick for co-chairing the event.

Wayne Miller of Wayne Miller Roofing and Siding built and donated a birdhouse door prize, which was won by Carole Patterson of Albion.