Sunday, May 15, 2011

Garfield Park Conservatory Tours

For the past few months I have been part of a small group of volunteers at Garfield Park Conservatory that have been in training as tour guides.   It has been a really wonderful experience.  This past week I had the opportunity to give my first "official" tour for a few new members of the conservatory.

I like giving the member tours on Wednesday night as the conservatory is open late. Also there are generally less visitors there, so it makes for a more private tour.  I had three folks on the tour - below we are in the Monet Garden enjoying the spring blooms.





I was very pleased to know that the gentleman on the left above sent a feedback note about our tour.  It said "Thanks again for the tour; our guide was really great.  As I had mentioned yesterday, a big chunk of my job was giving tours (to hundreds of people a day!) as well as coordinating them and training tour guides.  I know how tough it can be to train and maintain good volunteers, and I have always been impressed with how enthusiastic and great the volunteers at Garfield Park are, and our guide yesterday was no exception.  She did a great job tailoring the tour according to our needs, sharing her own love her plants, and also encouraging us to come back (which is so important for the vitality of institutions such as the Conservatory!)"

Whoo Hoo!

Pretty soon members will be able to sign up for tours on the Garfield Park Conservatory website - after that, maybe the public as well.  Maybe I'll see you there!

Teresa Marie