The Annual Meeting Show
The Show held at the Tacoma Mall Shopping Center certainly must have set some records. There were over 10,000 square feet of garden type displays in addition to the cut truss display and the educational exhibits, filling the Mall from one end some 700 feet to the other end, with exhibits spilling over into various shop-lined side areas. If a larger rhododendron show were ever staged anywhere the writer does not know of it.
The quality of the exhibits was excellent although some did not hold up too well over the three day period; others did. The environmental conditions in an enclosed, air conditioned area such as the Mall with probably rather low humidity, were strange to most of the exhibitors, but welcome as heavy showers came down outside. Lighting was excellent and space was adequate for viewing.
Adequate, that is, for any ordinary flower show crowd. But this was no ordinary crowd. It was, in fact, one of the largest crowds ever for a show of a single-plant society. The management of the Mall has a routine method of estimating attendance at any event held there. From certain observation posts on the roof the rate of traffic flow into the parking area, which accommodates over 7,000 cars, can be determined. From the total number of cars the number of visitors is calculated. These calculations produced the whopping figure of over 300,000 people in attendance during the time of the show. Admittedly some came to shop but nearly everyone of them saw at least a part of the show. On Sunday when most of the shops were closed the attendance was estimated at over 100,000.
The Rainier Chapter of the Washington State Nurserymen's Association put in a 24 by 42 foot display, occupying the middle section of the Mall. The displays varied in size from this down to 6 by 24 feet.
Six A. R. S. Chapters participated in this year's show in Chapter landscape competition. This is the first time that such competition has been included and it was quite keen and well accepted. It has been suggested that this competition be continued at the Annual Meeting Shows.
The trophy donors and winners were as follows:
- Bank of California, N.A., for best Nurseryman's Landscape Display, won by Kammer's Rhododendron Nursery, Puyallup.
- Poole's Garden Center, Perpetual Trophy, for best new hybrid seedling, won by Brandt's Nursery, Tacoma.
- Dean Witter & Company, Perpetual Trophy, for best plant in show, won by Hall's Rhododendron Garden, Puyallup.
- Evergreen Perpetual Trophy, for highest total points in cut blooms display, won by Mr. and Mrs. Regnar Brockner, Wauna.
- Schoenfelds, Perpetual Trophy, for best truss in show, won by Mrs. Robert Commerford, Marion, Oregon.
- Tacoma Chapter, American Rhododendron Society, $50.00 Cash Award, for best plant in show, won by Hall's Rhododendron Garden.
- H. L. Larson Rhododendron Nursery, Silver Award, for best new hybrid seedling in show exhibited by an amateur, won by Mr. and Mrs. Ted Fawcett, Tacoma
- Rhododendron Specality House, Silver Award, for best rhododendron plant exhibited by an amateur, won by Mr, and Mrs. Ragnar Brockner, Wauna.
- Kammer's Rhododendron Azalea Nursery, Silver Award, for best deciduous azalea in show exhibited by an amateur, won by Mr. and Mrs. Regnar Brockner, Wauna.
- Nu-Life Fertilizer Company, Perpetual Trophy, Amateur Sweepstakes Award, won by Mr. and Mrs. Regnar Brockner, Wauna.
- Verne L. Wood Memorial, Perpetual Trophy, for best evergreen azalea plant in show, won by Fawcett's Nursery, Tacoma.
- Tacoma Chapter, American Rhododendron Society, Silver Award, for best evergreen hybrid rhododendron exhibited by a nurseryman, won by Brandt's Nursery, Tacoma.
- Tacoma Chapter, American Rhododendron Society, Silver Award, for best evergreen species rhododendron exhibited by a nurseryman, won by H. L. Larson Rhododendron Nursery, Tacoma.
- Tacoma Chapter, American Rhododendron Society, Silver Award, for best deciduous azalea hybrid or species exhibited by a nurseryman, won by Kammer's Rhododendron Nursery, Puyallup.
- Tacoma Chapter, American Rhododendron Society, Silver Award, for best evergreen azalea, hybrid or species exhibited by a nurseryman, won by Fawcett's Nursery, Tacoma.
- Tacoma Chapter, American Rhododendron Society, Silver Award, for best amateur landscape display, won by Mr. and Mrs. Regnar Brockner, Wauna.
- Tacoma Chapter, American Rhododendron Society, Silver Award, for best Chapter landscape display, won by the Olympia Chapter, Olympia.