Show Notes, the garden festival and the Carnival of the Animals

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Jan 24, 2003 by Joan Gilmore

As this is written, the temperature is only 23 degrees and it's cold, cold, cold.

However, spring is coming next week. That's not what the calendar says but that's what Ellen Fleming and Mark Patterson say -- and they should know. They are co-chairmen of the third annual Oklahoma Garden Festival, which will open a four-day run Thursday at the Cox Convention Center. Hours will be 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Jan. 30-Feb. 1 and from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Feb. 2.

Admission is $6.50 per adult if purchased in advance or $8 at the door. Children 10 and under are admitted free. In advance, tickets are $5 for seniors or youth ages 11 through 16 and $6 at the door. A four-day pass is available for $15 if purchased in advance and a two- day pass purchased at the door is priced at $12. Advance tickets are available at all BancFirst locations, at the Cox Center, Full Circle Bookstore, Calvert's Plant Interiors, TLC Florist and Greenhouses, Wilshire Garden Market, North Pole City, Flowerama and the Penn Square Mall Customer Service.

Patterned after the major flower shows established in Philadelphia and Boston, the Oklahoma Garden Festival focuses on the beauty and education of gardening. With the theme of "Gardens Through the Ages," the festival will have 11 landscapes offering gardens of 400 to 2,500 square feet created by Oklahoma landscape companies and designers. Seminars and demonstrations will be presented. Retail vendors will offer innovative quality tools, yard decor and other garden-themed items.

Speakers include gardening experts Mike McGrath, Todd Meier, Felder Rushing, Dan Heims and Lucinda Hutson. McGrath hosts a nationally syndicated public radio show, You Bet Your Garden, which airs at 11 a.m. Fridays on KGOU 106-FM and KROU 107.5-FM. He has written several books on gardening and will speak several times on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. He also will be honored at a "garden party" at the Myriad Botanical Gardens Crystal Bridge on Feb. 1 when The Coach House will provide cocktails and hors d'oeuvres and the Max Gise Trio will provide jazz music. Tickets are $25 for KGOU-KROU members and $35 for nonmembers.

Hutson has written a book about herb gardening and appears regularly on radio and television programs nationally. Meier is executive editor of Fine Gardening magazine and Rushing is a retired extension horticulturist who writes weekly and monthly newspaper columns and hosts a live call-in radio program in Mississippi. Heims is president of Terra Nova Nurseries.

Garden lovers who want to "beat the crowd" may attend a preview party from 6 until 8 p.m. Wednesday at the festival where retail locations will be open for early shopping. Meg Salyer and Clayton Taylor are chairs of this event. Reservations are $45 per person and may be made by calling the Festival office at 528-2996.

The Oklahoma Garden Festival is produced by the Oklahoma Garden Festival Foundation and benefits Oklahoma City Beautiful and the Myriad Gardens Foundation.

Lyric's `Show Notes'

"At the Heart of Kander and Ebb" is the title of Lyric Theatre's second "Show Notes" program coming up Feb. 15 and 16.

This intimate concert details the music and memoirs of one of the great songwriting teams on Broadway, John Kander and Fred Ebb, who have the longest-running music-and-lyrics partnership in Broadway musical history.

The dynamic partnership began in 1963 with their first success, the pop hit, A Coloring Book. Since then the duo has written 11 Broadway shows, including Chicago, Cabaret, Woman of the Year and Kiss of the Spider Woman. They also wrote the music for the films New York, New York and Funny Lady.

Directed and hosted by Lyric's Artistic Director Nick Demos, the music will be performed live by a cast of Lyric Theatre's performers. They include Ben Williams, Cyndi Steele-Harrod, Beth Adele, Blythe Howard and the Lyric Academy Kids. Lyric will be presenting Chicago as the first show of this summer's season in Civic Center Music Hall.

"Show Notes" will be presented in the Eleanor Maurer Auditorium at Omniplex at 2 and 8 p.m. Feb. 15 and 5 p.m. Feb. 16. Tickets are $15 per adult and $10 per student. Call the Lyric Box Office at 524-9312 for tickets.

And speaking of . . .

Want to make a Victorian Valentine for your sweetie? Come to the Harn Homestead Museum, 313 NE 16th St., on Feb. 8. Actually, the Victorian Valentines Festival is geared to kids, but it's going to be fun. The Valentine making will take place from 10 a.m. until noon in the one-room schoolhouse and the 1904 farmhouse. A tour of the historic homestead is planned at noon. The Harn General Store, where souvenirs will be available, will be open from noon until 1 p.m. Class size is limited so call 235-4058 now to make your reservation. The cost is $7.50 per child and one parent is free in each family.

From the notebook

On Super Bowl Sunday at 2 p.m. two teams will prepare to meet face to face in a spectacular display of skill and determination. They are the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and the animals of the Little River Zoo in Norman meeting to present "Carnival of the Animals." The program will be at the Civic Center Music Hall where a petting zoo and Instrument Playground will take place at 1 p.m., preceding the concert. Tickets are available by calling 297-2264.