SUDBURY - Spring can’t
come too soon for members of the Thursday Garden Club who
are giving the season a jump start with a program that features
flowers, fashion, food and fun.
And you don’t have to have a green thumb to attend,
said event co-chair Claudia Brandon, who added that tickets
to the flower-and-fashion-filled event would make a perfect
early Mother’s Day gift or a night-out treat for a
friend.
"It Might As Well Be Spring!" a fundraiser for
the club’s service projects will feature a demonstration
by popular floral designer and fashion consultant Bill Graham,
owner of "Beautiful Things" in Salem as well as
a silent auction and raffle. The event is on Wednesday,
April 2 at 7 p.m. at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School
in the Kirshner Auditorium. The program will begin about
7:30 p.m. after dessert and silent auction bidding. Tickets
may be purchased in advance for $15 and include dessert
and coffee.
"It will be a fun and entertaining evening and a nice
way to welcome the spring season," said Brandon who
laughed and added, "It is spring even though it doesn’t
feel that way in April."
Graham, the featured speaker, was recently honored by the
Massachusetts Federation of Garden Clubs with a Lifetime
Member Award. He is a member of the American Institute of
Floral Designers, the American Academy of Floriculture,
the Professional Floral Commentators Institute and the Canadian
Academy of Floral Art.
Graham has a lifelong interest in floral design sown during
summers spent with an aunt and uncle who were florists.
A ceramics major at the University of New Hampshire, Graham
worked as a buyer at Filene’s and R.H. Stearns before
moving to Salem where he was the china, glass and silver
buyer for Daniel Lowe and Company.
He later worked as a wedding planner.
"I am now doing everything I’ve ever done in
my career, all at once," said Graham who owns a florist
and fashion accessories shop in Salem.
In his program Graham combines fashion tips and floral design
along with anecdotes from his years in both businesses.
"Women used to come in with a vase and say, ‘What
can you do?’ and now they come in with a dress and
say, ‘What can you do to accessorize me?’"
said Graham of his shop where he sells handbags, jewelry,
accessories and shrugs as well as hand-made hats and silk
floral pins he sews himself from silk and satin.
He uses a draped dress form he’s christened Lily to
show how to accessorize a dress from business to black tie
all the while creating a flower arrangement to match each
of eight dress style changes.
The eight distinct floral styles will range from a formal
centerpiece to an arrangement of flowers in a vase without
using oasis.
|
Select a Florist
