From the May 15, 2008 edition of the Northeast News Gleaner
DMRC's Fourth Annual Flower Festival
By Frank Visco
Printed with permission by News Gleaner PublicationsAfter forays down the rabbit hole, through the world of Oz and, most recently, into a magical nanny-inhabited London, the Deer Meadows Retirement Community showed off an Arthurian realm this past weekend for their fourth annual spring flower festival.
The staff of the retirement facility at 8301 Roosevelt Blvd. unveiled “The Gardens of Camelot” at a grand opening on Wednesday April 7 before opening to the public the following day. The show, which remained open throughout the weekend, included notable Arthurian iconography such as the sword in the stone, the lady in the lake, Merlin’s forest home and the Knights of the Round Table.
“There’s so much detail, it’s unbelievable,” Chief Executive Officer Michael Jacobs said. “You have to actually go through several times and look at every little thing. Some residents come in here, seven, eight times a day. I find myself walking in here multiple times.”
The exhibit was a full rendering of the medieval legend, equipped with ceiling high walls, large suits of armor, a miniature lake with a flowing waterfall and staff members dressed up as literature’s most favorite love triangle—King Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere.
In addition, the festival once again featured contest drawings contributed by schools from all over the country, as well as a vocal performance by 17-year-old Madie Hart, daughter of the show’s creative art designer Colleen Hart. Deer Meadows Director of Marketing & Public Relations Liz Harbison highlighted these perennial components during the grand opening, but seemed more impressed by the exhibits electrical improvements.
“There’s more animation inside, more electrical things,” she said, “A sword actually comes out of the stone!”
The flower festival itself has become Deer Meadows’ biggest yearly event. According to Harbison, the staff has even turned theme selection into an faux award show in which they act out several of the nominated selections before announcing the winner as voted on by the residents.
“We make a production of it with an emcee listing all the titles and staff members coming out to a theme song for each,” Harbison said. “It’s a lot of fun for the residents.”
Besides the Arthurian legend other nominees for this year’s festival included Star Wars and Charlottes Web. Previous shows were inspired by Alice and Wonderland, The Wizard of OZ and Marry Poppins.
After the theme was announced, the elder Hart was once again given the task of making it come to life. After “chewing on the idea for a couple of months,” she began constructing her creation six weeks before opening.
“I love doing this,” she said. “I get to become a sort of MacGyver of an art project. You have to use all your resources to explore what the possibilities are.”
Hart utilized the Deer Meadows staff whenever possible in helping to create her makeshift landscape.
“I’d give someone a piece of chicken wire and tell them to ‘think rock,’” Hart said. “At first they’d give me a look, but then they’d get into it, and there was this great level of excitement. It was like everyone was a kid again, building with Play-Doh.
“It’s pretty much smoke and mirrors and that’s the fun of it. It’s fun to realize that chicken wire and wood can become a little waterfall spilling into a lake.”
Although the medieval backdrop was the show’s highlight, the main focus of the show were the estimated tens of thousands of flowers that adorned the entire set, and were also available for purchase, along with a variety of Mothers Day gifts.
Overall, the staff seems pleased and energized by their fourth time around hosting the flower festival.
“We love it. We get well over 1,000 visitors, which is great because it lets the community see what type of living space we have here,” Jacobs said. ““It’s important to understand this is their home and we are guest in their home. Just like when families decorate their homes, we do this here, and it adds to that sense of home. The residents here are very proud of the community.”
Residents echoed these sentiments, praising their home with pride.
“They do everything here but burp you,” resident Grace Bucher said. “It’s beautiful, 99 plus percent. You couldn’t want a better place.”
“I think it’s a beautiful place,” resident Catherine Gluck added. “There’s nothing you can not like here.”
Vendors also praised the quality of Deer Meadows, making the theme of Camelot, which has historically been viewed as a utopian kingdom, entirely appropriate.
“I got to facilities every day. I’ve seen them all and this is one of the best,” said Elliot Goldberg of Rescue Tech Ambulance Service, a third-year sponsor of the flower show. “It’s like a four-star hotel compared to most of the other homes. If I could move in here I would.”
In fighting the negative perception of retirement homes, Deer Meadows invest energy into the flower show, as well as a variety of other activities that keep their residents active in and outside of the complex.
“The staff feels positive about the level of care we provide,” said Pat Long, chair of the Deer Meadows board. “They don’t have to apologize to anyone when they say the work in a retirement community.”
“When people think of a retirement home, they think of a place where people go to die,” added Harbison. “But our residents tell us that when they came here they came to life.”
