Blossoms will be in abundance at a historic log church tucked away in the foothills just outside of Millarville this weekend.
Residents from across the region will decorate Millarville’s Christ Church and grounds with bouquets, flowerpots and hanging baskets filled with flowers collected from their yards, fields and gardens for the 52nd annual flower festival on July 19 and 20.
“The whole church, the cemetery and the grounds are all decorated with flowers,” said Barb Haslam, secretary treasurer for the Millarville Ladies Seniors Guild. “There’s roses, delphiniums, daisies - just whatever people have in their gardens they bring and whatever they can find growing out in the fields. Some of the folks around here have beautiful gardens.”
The tradition of the flower festival began after former Christ Church ladies guild member Flo King attended a similar event in England and brought the idea back to the guild.
True to English tradition, the festival includes a tea featuring scones, homemade strawberry jam and whipped cream. This year’s tea will be served on July 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at a cost of $6. Those ages six and under cost $3.
Haslam said the more than 200 people who attend the flower festival each year not only enjoy the tea, but walking around the grounds and nearby cemetery to view the hundreds of floral arrangements.
“When you have a full mash of them it really looks lovely,” she said. “I think they have a sense of peace going into the church and seeing the bouquets and a sense of history with it being such an old log church.”
Members of the community and the Millarville Horticultural Society decorate the grounds the day before the event and young children are often tasked with placing bouquets at each grave in the cemetery that don’t already have flowers, Haslam said.
“When we set up there is quite a mixed group of people who come together,” she said.
Although there are few restrictions when it comes to decorating for the flower festival, the ladies guild sticks to its rule of no store-bought flowers, Haslam said.
“We want them to be donated or wild flowers,” she said. “We just think it’s nicer because it’s more of a community thing.”
Former event organizer Theresa Patterson said that wasn’t always the case. When the event first began five decades ago, a member of the guild used to go around to various flower shops across the region to purchase flowers for the festival.
“There weren’t flower gardens in those days like we have today,” she said. “Now all the flowers that come to our church are from our own area. People grow a lot more flowers.”
Patterson said it’s quite a sight to see the church grounds, cemetery and buildings filled with flowers. The blossoms remain on site until after the 11:30 a.m. Sunday church service.
The event never fails to attract dozens of people from across the region each summer.
“It is just beautiful,” she said. “People driving by will often see our signs and come in even though they haven’t heard about it before. We have a lot of people come from the farmers’ market at Millarville. It’s getting to be a very famous event in our area.”
The seniors’ guild invites nursing home residents across the foothills and Calgary to attend, often resulting in busloads of seniors visiting the wheelchair accessible grounds.
In addition to the donated flowers, the grounds boast 100 peonies planted in 1996 to celebrate the church’s centennial year. Patterson said hosting the festival the third weekend in July often aligns with the peonies going into bloom.
To reserve a table of eight people or more for the July 19 tea call Barb Haslam at 403-995-2340. To donate flowers to the festival call Cathy Scatterty at 403-938-7717.
The Christ Church is located on Highway 549 five kilometres east of the Millarville Race Track between Millarville and Okotoks.
For more information, contact Pauline Buckley at 403-931-3773 or Barb Haslam at 403-995-2340.
