2024: Smooth & Steady!
Coming off of the successes of the 2023 Native Plant Expo & Marketplace and 2022 Native Plant Expo & Marketplace, we expanded and improved the expo with new features: Nature Kids activity area, more food trucks, return of the Milkweed Giveaway, newly improved Speaker Stage with presentations, and more nurseries than ever! We put our hearts into the work, while navigating some staffing transitions, and the event was a smooth success.
We counted 2219 attendees in 2024, keeping on par with our attendance of 2250 in 2023! This included the new Early Bird hour, which had over 451 tickets sold to many very prepared early bird shoppers! We heard from people who came as far as Grand Rapids and Bay City, we're glad that the event is sowing the seeds of native plant enthusiasts locally and regionally!
See the Photos on Facebook!
Thanks to Paul Michael Peters for the photography this year!
Catie W with the Washtenat County Water Resources Commissioner's Office / Master Rain Gardeners, and volunteers supporting the Pre-sale distribution.
Native Plant Pre-Sale Distribution
Every spring we offer the Native Plant Sale pre-order distribution for those green thumbs and Master Rain Gardeners who want to pre-order for their garden designs. We host a few plant distributions per year, and the spring is our largest selection of native plants offered by pre-order. We offer species in plug flats, quart pots, and some larger gallon pots from Designs By Nature nursery and WildType nursery. Over 185 orders were distributed, totaling to over 6,661 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 38 vendors & exhibitors, up from 31 in 2023! This included 14 different native plant focused nurseries as well as local nonprofits and government programs focused on native plants and conservation, and 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 7,409 plants sold collectively, totaling to over $46,000 (only 8 have reported so far) in revenue for these nursery and vendor businesses! The vendors rated the event overall as a 4.75 of 5 (with 22 total vendors/exhibitors responding).
Some highlights from vendor survey responses since the event:
- "We love our spot, and the overall time and energy of the event" - Vendor survey response
- "An excellently organized event. Communication and staff were great both onsite and beforehand! " - Vendor Survey response
Brian from Designs By Nature nursery.
Anita from Huron River Watershed Council
Educational Speaker Stage
We brought the Speaker Stage back and improved it with a projector and screen for presentations. The stage provided our vendors and exhibitors a unique opportunity to give a short TED style talk to our attendees, and they took us up on it! With a packed schedule and varying topics, 10 speakers took the stage and educated and entertained while folks rested and enjoyed food from the food trucks.
5 Food Trucks!
Petey's Donuts were a hit!
A big hit on a hot day with lots to see. We had five food trucks, everything from coffee to donuts to wraps and more!
Milkweed Giveaway
Thanks to generous donors, we had the pleasure of giving away milkweed to support monarch populations in our Pre-sales and during the event.
Our staff and volunteer gave away 2400 milkweed plants of 5 different species to over 450 attendees and presale customers!
Read more on the Milkweed Giveaway page.
Expo Sponsorships
Event Sponsor: Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner's Office & Master Rain Gardeners
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:
- Huron River Watershed Council
- Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner's Office & Master Rain Gardeners
- Natural Community Services
- Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nature Area (University of Michigan) - New in 2024! Also offered the Nature Kids activity area!
Nature Kids - Activities by MBGNA
We wanted to make the event more family friendly and educational for all ages. We lucked out with a new sponsor and partnership with the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nature Area (University of Michigan)! They led activities for kids of all ages and provided excellent educational materials and free plants! We're so grateful for their contributions and hope they'll be a regular continuing this event.
New addition: Musical Offerings of Bob Bransky!
Bob preformed a couple of great sets, and serenaded the attendees throughout the day. We loved having him along and added more fun to the atmosphere of the event.
Thanks to our Partners, Staff, and many Volunteers
Amazing volunteers make this event happen!
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 108 volunteers sign up and even more support over the 2 days of preparation and the day of the event.
Post-event survey highlights: (27 responses total)
- When asked, “How easy was it to sign up for volunteering through washtenawcd.org?” 20 people rated it 10/10.
- When asked to rate the event overall, 21 people responded with 5/5.
Volunteers rated the event highly, 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...
Join us: Sign-up for Volunteer Opportunities
“Had too much fun working and learning from other volunteers during prepaid order setup and had even more fun engaging the public at the milkweed giveaway table on Saturday.
This is an amazing annual community event with high quality, energy, information, and spirit.”
Special Thanks!
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, as well as Rachel and Lisa 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.
Bridget Mitchell led and grew the event planning as the Expo Coordinator this year until March, her ideas and enthusiasm were a huge part of the success of the event. We miss her on the team, but wish her luck in her new career path!
And as for the WCCD staff, we had much of the team out doing the challenging tasks of parking lots and the such. I want to specifically point out the work of our Volunteer/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.
Additionally, our new Seasonal Staff, Rebecca Mackey, supported the event greatly, orchestrating vendors and the pre-sale distribution. Her many superpowers and keen eye for details helped us organize and improve documentation for the event this year and beyond.
Special thanks and congratulations to Summer Roberts, who was our Community Forester. She organized the Nature Kids corner with MBGNA, and was the organizer and MC of the Speaker Stage. The following Monday she stepped into the new role as Executive Director! We're so glad for her new leadership.
Lastly, Doug Reith, Resource Specialist, continued advising and coordinating the event.
And a special thanks to the Washtenaw County's Solid Waste Department for loaning the Zero Waste stations to reduce our impact of this event.
Also, Special Thanks to Washtenaw County Natural Area Preservation Program team, for lending their sets of walkie talkies, they were an invaluable support!
Thanks to the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds!
With the painted barns, many repairs and new pavement, the new grounds managers, Kirk and Kyle, are revitalizing this venue to be an even more valuable asset to our communities and events. They were both so helpful with the set-up and supportive of our event.
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.
See the latest on the Native Plant Expo & Marketplace