Organizing the Native Plant Expo & Marketplace, at the scale the event has reached, has its many challenges. Each year we try to expand awareness to drive engagement in local conservation efforts. It can be challenging to capture the attention of community members amid an often noisy and chaotic world, but we are proud to see growing interest and support. In 2021, we did our best but flopped with low attendance due to a ticket system intended to moderate crowd size during COVID. In 2022, months before the event, we got double-booked at our venue and switched to the Chelsea Fairgrounds, which had its benefits! In 2024, we faced staff turn-over and our team had to re-delegate to keep event operations smooth.
And this year was no different, with a host of new challenges: federal funding headaches, wildfire smoke challenging public health, multiple key staff members transitioning to other career paths, and an increasing number of other native plant sales preceding the event (good problem!). It is always a gamble and labor of love for us to organize this event, and hedge our bets on bringing together over 15 native plant nurseries to provide a unique shopping and learning opportunity to our community in Washtenaw and the greater southeastern Michigan region.
The hard work and persistence continues to pay off as the community came out strong, with over 2,486 attendees choosing to spend their day learning and investing in native landscapes, exceeding our previous max of 2250. This included a record breaking 531 Early Bird ticket sales to folks who wanted first access from 8am-9am, before the event opened for free at 9am.
Amazing Volunteers having a good time at the Spring Native Plant 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 173 orders were distributed, totaling to over 6,887 plants! This sale allows for our county's gardeners to order ahead for a successful, planned garden, while also generating revenue to support the event and many staff hours required.
Some highlights from vendor survey responses since the event:
"The easy flow and signage. I honestly wouldn't change a thing. You all have this running like a well oiled machine as far as I'm concerned. Great job." - Vendor survey response
"Set-up went smoothly, we talked to lots of people and had great conversations about native plants, rain gardens, and how to use those to protect the river." - Vendor Survey response
The Expo & Marketplace barns hosted 42 vendors & exhibitors, up from 38 in 2024! This included 15 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 honeybee products to edible natives taste testing.
The nurseries reported an estimated 10,817plants sold collectively, totaling to sales over $72,104.97 for these nurseries (with all 15 responding) and vendor businesses! The vendors rated the event overall as a 4.8 of 5 (with 31 of 42 total vendors/exhibitors responding).
Educational Speaker Stage
The third year of the Speaker Stage included a variety of 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 to educate and entertain folks while they rested and enjoyed food from the food trucks.
Music, Food Trucks, & Kids' Activities!
Bob Bransky brought music and good vides to the Expo.
Fantastic food trucks at the Native Plant Expo!
Even some pollinators showed up, thanks to Bee Present Honey!
Our sponsors make it possible for this event to exist and to grow to the level it is today. 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 all of our sponsors again, especially the top-level sponsors:
Our many dedicated, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic volunteers aid in this event to continue smoothly. We had the support of 109 volunteers over the 2 days of preparation, the Spring Native Plant Sale distribution order packing, and the day of the event.
Overall sentiments: The experience was widely seen as positive, meaningful, and enjoyable, with strong emphasis on people, purpose, and a well-run event.
When asked to rate the event overall, the average response was 4.75 out of 5.
Volunteers rated the event highly, and we 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
Special Thanks!
In addition to volunteers, a 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, Rachel Leonard, and Janice Das 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.
The new grounds managers and staff— Kirk, Kyle, and Joe—are continuing to revitalize this venue to be an even more valuable asset to our communities and events. They were so helpful with the set-up and supportive of our event. Check out their full events calendar!
Can't wait to see you all next year! Happy planting...
