Healing Garden hosts painters, festivities

This Saturday, Sept. 30, come by Bonner General Hospital's Healing Garden and "Fall for the Garden." Celebrate fall with a festive atmosphere, plein air painters and plenty of good, old-fashioned apple cider. There will be plants, dried flowers, pots and handmade decorative items for sale, with all proceeds benefiting the Healing Garden.

If you've never been to the Healing Garden, this is the perfect opportunity to come enjoy it in all its autumn splendor. The colors in the garden are magnificent this time of year, with many flowers still in bloom and the trees sporting their fiery fall finery.

Plein air painters are a wonder to watch as they quickly brush color across the canvas, capturing the scene before them. Working "on site" makes for a much more intimate portrait of the landscape than traditional studio painting. The mood and feel of the day is incorporated into the soul of the piece, making for truly original art.

After the event, the paintings will be for sale as a fundraiser for the Garden, with more information available at Fall for the Garden. Though the debt for the Healing Garden has just been retired, there is still a need for ongoing funds as new plants and bulbs are always needed. Also, the garden is in a state of expansion, right now focusing on a new entrance, not to mention discussing plans for a possible future Children's Garden. Fall for the Garden is an event that all of us can enjoy while helping support Sandpoint's newest landmark.

Fall for the Garden takes place this Saturday, Sept. 30, from 9 a.m. to noon, in the Healing Garden next to Bonner General Hospital (Third and Poplar).

The Healing Garden Committee would like to thank the staff of Bonner General Hospital and the community as a whole for all of the generous support, donations and passion that makes the Healing Garden such a special place.