Who knew Conservation Resource Distributions could be so fun!
Our mission statement reads "To assist residents and landowners with the conservation, management, and wise use of natural resources of Washtenaw County", and this work manifests the most collective energy and enthusiasm in the Native Plant Expo & Marketplace. This event grew out of a merging of grassroots backyard plant swaps and sales by the Washtenaw County Water Resource Commissioner's Office and merged with native plant sales by the WCCD and took it's larger "farmer market" style event in 2019 with a good turnout. Then was canceled due to COVID-19 in 2020, and was underwhelming due to COVID restrictions in 2021, so we determined to revive the event to it's full potential. While these types of free events are hard to predict turnout, we had hoped for 1000 attendees, but our count was estimated over 1600 attendees! Increasingly more residents and landowners are joining and sustaining this cultural shift to diversify our yards and communities with native plants for the benefit of the birds, and the bees... and really, all life on this shared planet!
I wanted to share some highlights of what we have heard since the event:
- "I give the event 7 of 5 stars!" - Vince of Windy Rock Farm - nursery vendor
- "It was extremely well organized with strong leadership. I will volunteer again. " - volunteer survey response
- "Marketing leading up to the event was fantastic! Heard the spots on Michigan Radio." - vendor survey response
So with that, we'd like to share our many thanks to everyone who made this possible, share some lovely photos, and recap some of the many facets of the 2022 Native Plant Expo & Marketplace.
- Doug Reith, WCCD Resource Coordinator
Native Plant Pre-Sale Distribution
One big part of the event is the Native Plant Sale pre-order distribution. We host a few plant distributions per year, and this is our largest selection of native plants offered by pre-order. We work with local nursery vendors and offered around 90 species in plug flats, quart pots, and some larger gallon pots. Over 295 customers had a total of 317 orders with totaled to 11,046 plants! This sale allows for our county's gardeners who know that a successful garden takes some planning to order ahead, and the revenue generated supports the event and many staff hours required.
Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter or check our events page for information on the upcoming annual plant distributions.
Vendors & Exhibitors
The Expo & Marketplace barns hosted 27 vendors & exhibitors, up from 15 in 2021! This included 10 different native plant focused nurseries, 12 local nonprofits and government programs focused on native plants and conservation, and 6 local businesses offering everything from native plant landscaping services to honey bee products to our favorite local author on raising Butterflies in the Garden.
The nurseries reported an estimated 3440 plants sold collectively, totaling to over $30,000 in revenue for these nursery and vendor businesses! The vendors rated the event overall as a 4.79 of 5 (with 18 total vendors responding).
We even invited special musical guest, Joe Reilly this year to provide extra energy and atmosphere with his fun and heartful music. Thanks for being willing, Joe!
Lynn from Better Finds nursery
Native Restoration Solutions nursery
New Leaf Nursery
Joe Reilly
Event Sponsorships
Our sponsors make it possible for this event to exist and to grow to the level it is now. With their support we were able to purchase radio spots with Michigan Radio to broadcast our event, among other event outreach and operations. We want to thank again all of our sponsors, especially the top level sponsors in 2022:
Thanks to our Partners, Staff, and many Volunteers!
I say it every time and every time I mean it, we couldn't do our events of this scale without the support of many dedicated, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic volunteers. We had over 80 volunteers sign up and even more support over the 2 days of preparation and the day of the event. Volunteers rated the overall event 5/5 (out of 18 who responded to the survey), and I consistently hear from them how much they've learned, how fun it was, and how they feel part of something bigger, so if you're interested...
In addition to volunteers, huge thank you and shout out to our advisory group and on the grounds leadership team including, from WCWRCO & Master Rain Gardeners: Heather Rice, Susan Bryan, Catie Wytychak, and Linda Prieskorn (2021 volunteer of the year), as well as Rachel and Matt who we're huge help during the event. They are an indispensable group and partnership that keeps the event steering clearly, and they bring all their many skills towards improving and running the event.
Additionally, we hired Sarah Kalikow as the Expo Coordinator this year. Sarah was a previous employee with WCWRCO and brought her knowledge of native plants, local nurseries, and background in event planning to take the Expo to the next level. We wouldn't have scaled up to so many vendors and secured as many sponsorships without her dedicated thoughtful approach to her position.
And as for the WCCD staff, we had much of the team (Thanks Summer & Paul!) out doing the challenging tasks of parking lots and the such. I want to specifically point out the work of our Outreach Coordinator, Dru Mark-Wilson. Many of the volunteers know her know for her cheerful approach in organizing many many volunteers on the various sometimes chaotic operations of the events. She is the behind the scenes support on much of the marketing and outreach efforts for this event and the many WCCD events. She brings heart and fun to her work, and we're glad to have her on the team.
And a special thanks to the Chelsea Zero Waste Coalition for trialing some zero waste efforts at our event that have advised and inspired us to work towards zero waste in all our events.
Thanks to the Chelsea Community Fairgrounds!
Lastly but not least, due to scheduling challenges for a young event, we found ourselves at the Chelsea Community Fairgrounds this year, and it was a blessing. We heard consistently from the attendees and very much from the vendors of how much they enjoyed the space layout, facilities, and cleanliness. Kacie the grounds Treasurer and Rental Agent was amazing to work with, thank you Kacie for your hard work and dedication.
Can't wait to see you all next year! Happy planting,
Thanks for reading, and if you made it this far, stay in touch:
Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter or check our events page for information on the upcoming annual plant distributions.