San Francisco Botanical Garden's 75th Anniversary Celebration
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Photo by Kathryn Rummel
WHAT:
Community Day: San Francisco Botanical Garden's 75th Anniversary Celebration – a free, daylong celebration with family activities, performances, special tours, demonstrations and more
WHEN:
Sunday, May 31, 2015
TIME:
Event: 10am-4pm
Garden hours that day: 7:30am to 6pm
WHERE:
San Francisco Botanical Garden, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
COST:
FREE
INFORMATION:
www.SFBotanicalGarden.org, (415) 661-1316
San Francisco Botanical Garden marks the 75th anniversary of its opening to the public that features family activities, giant puppets and a sing-a-long, a variety of docent-led walking tours; a special stage featuring world music and dance performances reflecting the global nature of the collection, a photo booth and more. Visitors can also purchase picnicking supplies at food trucks from Off the Grid, and beverages of all kinds, including those for those 21 and up, will also be available for purchase.
In the 1870s, William Hammond Hall tamed the dunes and, planting 66,000 trees, transformed a “howling waste of sand” into San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Hall, the Park’s first superintendent, created the original survey and master plan for the Park, which included a modest 12-acre arboretum. But it was his successor, John McLaren, with the financial support of a prosperous widow named Helene Strybing, who ultimately crafted a vision for a grander arboretum and botanical garden in Golden Gate Park and carried it out. Work began during the Great Depression with the help of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and in 1940, the 55-acre San Francisco Botanical Garden opened to a public eager to see its unfamiliar and alluring collections.
Now, this living museum is home to over 8,000 different kinds of plants from around the globe including many that are rare and no longer found in the wild. The Garden is a cherished oasis in the heart of the city and a vital resource for conservation and education.
