Fall Festival arrives for Cedar Valley Arboretum

It’s Fall Festival at Cedar Valley Arboretum. Scarecrows are set up to welcome all the visitors for fall. During these four weeks of Fall Fest, on average, 1,500 people come. Cedar Falls Arboretum, Monday through Saturday, opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. Sunday opens at 11 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. It’s located on the Hawkeye Community College campus just off E. Orange Road at 1927.

Mary Meir, a volunteer at the Arboretum, said, “I absolutely love the arboretum. It’s beautiful. They needed volunteers, and I got involved with the scarecrow ladies who make scarecrows for the fall festival and autumn at the arboretum every year. I love the outdoors. I love plants and I wanted to get involved.”

The money for the Arboretum is all given. They don’t receive any money from the state.“Most of our money comes from private individuals, from memberships and people visiting. We get various grants that help us. We have some people that donate every year,” Meir said. “We also do special events to try to raise money. This year, we are going to do something called “Illuminate the Gardens.”

The Arboretum can be rented for many events. Meir said, “We have several weddings. Most weekends there is a wedding. We have an education center which we hold classes in, so that raises some money. As well, people take classes with us. They can range from painting to learning how to plant things. People can rent the education center, so we have a lot of birthday parties there, anniversaries and celebrations of life.”

She said a lot of people from all over come to visit the Arboretum. “It is really interesting. We get visitors from all over the place. About every single state has visited. People also from England and other places like that come to visit. I love talking to the visitors and hearing what they think about the arboretum. I love teaching classes out there and doing the different events.”

Meir said a story that is very close to her is “one little guy, when I was doing ambassador work, came through about every Tuesday with his mom. We just formed a really special bond, and he was and he was adorable. That is probably one of my favorite memories is getting to know him and his mother.”