The Friends of Quiet Waters Park with Garrett’s Light invite the community to celebrate the Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Reading and Butterfly Garden, a new park attraction at Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis, MD. The Groundbreaking ceremony will start promptly at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 in the park at the location of the new Garden, right off the North East Corner of the Water Fountains /Ice Skating Rink.
The ceremony program will include representatives from Anne Arundel Department of Recreation and Parks, The Chesapeake Bay Trust and Garrett’s Light with a special presentation by Chaney Enterprises. City and County Councilmen have been invited. Immediately following the ceremony, Green Drinks Annapolis will host their monthly event at the Park’s Visitor Center from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
The Reading and Butterfly Garden, inspired by Garrett’s Light (www.garrettslight.org), an organization established in memory of Garrett Wall Feldman, is scheduled to open by 2012. This new park attraction will create a place where the community can celebrate the joy of reading and being together in a natural, peaceful and healthy environment. Garrett’s Light mission is to spark an interest in long-term nature programs for children that benefit the community and county.
Since 2009, Garrett’s Light in partnership with the Friends of Quiet Waters Park and Anne Arundel Department of Recreation and Parks has raised $70,000 through fundraising activities including three Family, Music and Kite Festivals held at the park. The organization also was awarded a grant in July 2011 from The Chesapeake Bay Trust to help meet the organization’s $100,000 fundraising goal to support the development and implementation of the Watershed Education Experience (WEE) within the garden. Visitors will learn how our precious watersheds can be restored to their natural beneficial functioning, using a “touch and feel” experience and the use of Best Management Practices (BMP) such as rain gardens, step pools and bioswales. The reading garden, nature programs and living classroom will provide hands-on information and experiences to teach children and their parents about ways to preserve and protect the Earth and immediate areas such as the South River and Chesapeake Bay.
This Garden is inspired by Garrett’s Light with special thanks to the Anne Arundel Recreation and Parks, Chesapeake Bay Trust, State Farm Insurance, BB&T, smart Center Annapolis, WRNR, Premier Planning Group, PMG Direct and countless corporate sponsors and private donations.
Garrett Wall Feldmann, born in Annapolis, lived from April 18, 2007 to December 16, 2008, when he died in his sleep of natural causes. His parents, Lee and Kathryn Feldmann, twin brothers, Shane and Carter, sister, Emily, and friends established Garrett’s Light in the hope of exciting the curiosity in children who visit Quiet Waters Park, a jewel of the Chesapeake.
