The current president of the Mountaineer Garden Club, Vivian Shomo, is excited about the successful celebration of the 60th anniversary of the club scheduled This celebration was a public event and many people attended.
In 2003, Shomo was invited by long time member, Jean Long, to go to a district meeting in Phillipi. The meeting sparked an interest in horticulture that continues today. She remarks that district meetings are an excellent source of knowledge gained through the diverse programs that are offered at the meetings. The state and district meetings provide many opportunities for networking, socializing and sharing what each separate club is doing in their communities.
When she sees the many plants blooming in her garden, they invoke pleasant memories of the many friends who contributed such beauty to her home. She received her first plant, money plant seeds, from Jane Trimble, of the Emma Scott Garden Club. She also enjoys watching the birds which flock to her suet and platform feeders.
Shomo is currently WV Garden Club assistant treasurer and has served as a member of the board for several years. She has also received her accreditation to judge National Garden Club standard flower shows and was privileged to judge at the Philadelphia Flower Show in 2014. As a past member of the Tucker County Fair, Shomo would like to see the revival of the flower shows the Club and Fair Association co-sponsored in the past.
Her current goals for the garden club is to increase the number of outside speakers at local meetings and as always to increase membership.
The Mountaineer garden club supports many projects in the community. The club maintains the flowers at the Welcome sign on RT. 72, supports recycling and litter control, grants scholarship funds to the 4-H club, purchases trees for planting on National Arbor day and displays floral arrangements at the Mountaineer Valley and Citizen banks in Parsons at Christmas and Easter. Also, the club has assisted Christine Ward and class at TVEMS in planting a butterfly garden at the school and provides Valentine cards to the residents of Cortland Acres. The members of the garden club expressed their goals for the coming year to include increase membership adults and youth, spruce up the garden at City hall, plant more trees in the community, increase awareness for continued beautification of our community, host a successful Tygart Valley District meeting and begin plans for obtaining a Blue Star designation for Parsons.
Shomo strongly encourages anyone who is interested in joining the club to contact her at vshomo72@gmail.com. The more engaged the public becomes in projects that enhance the enjoyment of life, the stronger a community grows.
