Cut and Dried Flower Farm fundraiser benefits Water First

Cut and Dried Flower Farm’s 2nd annual Hanging Basket Challenge Fundraiser was a huge success and a true collaboration between farm employees, customers and youth volunteers. Hanging baskets were designed and planted by eight staff members in March. The baskets were grown with the rest of the greenhouse crops, then through May and June, visitors to the farm purchased ballots to vote for their favourite basket, with a chance of winning it.
The hanging basket that received the most votes was designed and planted by Kelly French and she chose the Creemore based NGO Water First to be the recipient of money raised. Ami Gopal, director of development for Water First visited the farm to collect a cheque for $900 from the farm’s owner, Katie Dawson and winning designer. The eight hanging baskets were given away to winners, drawn at random from the votes cast. Youth volunteers Willow Cherewaty, Lexi Dodge, Zinnia Hehn, Carter Neale and Ben Martin did a fantastic job of running the voting tent on weekends and encouraging visitors to vote.
Overall, the fundraiser was a massive success, for the farm’s staff, lucky winning customers and Water First and is now on the calendar as an annual event at the farm.