Gayle Todd, Committee Chairman Connie Jo Boyte, and Becky Willis. Not pictured Linda and Freddie Rast.

Ahhh…Welcome to Fall in Holden Beach!  The summer crowds of visitors seem to take the humidity with them when they leave.  Clear blue skies, with temperatures in the upper 70’s during the day and cooling off in the evenings lets our little slice of heaven shine this time of the year!

The Seasonal Decorations Committee has been busy appreciating autumn all over Town.  Committee Chairman Connie Jo Boyte and her committee have been hard at work.  The Town Hall has been decorated to reflect the changing seasons along with the Padgett Garden.  Due to the County’s water emergency, fall planting in the gardens has been postponed until outside irrigation is again allowed.

Be sure to stop by the Holden Beach Beautification Club’s booth at Festival By the Sea this weekend, October 29-30.

Our famous calendars are in and you can pick one up!  Each year Beautification Club members collect their most beautiful photos of the Holden Beach area for the annual calendar.  The very best are selected for the calendar which is professionally produced in limited quantities each fall.  The calendars are collectible, and are also popular holiday gifts.

In addition, check out our booth for some wonderful planters and other goodies from the talented HBBC ladies.  There will be hyper-tufa planters, draped concrete planters and a return of the very popular garden Lady Bugs!

Best of all, all proceeds from our booth go to fund the club and our mission to beautify the public garden areas of Holden Beach.

After postponing for a week due to Hurricane Matthew, HBBC welcomed Sally Edge, the owner and artist of Carolina Starfire, LLC.   She was born in Raleigh, NC and graduated from UNCW with a degree in Marine Biology. Her career includes six years with CP&L at the Brunswick Nuclear Plant and over 20 years in sales and marketing with a large corporation out of Virginia.

After retiring in 2008, Sally and husband Tom moved back to NC.  In 2009, Carolina Starfire, LLC was licensed and began operations as a private stained glass studio located across the waterway from Holden Beach.

Altogether they have almost 20 years of experience working with art glass.  Tom is a mosaic artist, specializing in stained glass-on-glass panels and birdhouses.  Sally typically employs the more traditional copper-foil technique in her pieces, but loves to add found bits and objects like vintage jewelry, plates, rondels and wire to her pieces.  Their business offerings include original art, private commissions and mosaic training classes (winter).  You can see her work at Festival by the Sea.

Sandy McClellan was introduced as our newest member by her sponsor Donna Aycock.  Yearbooks were distributed, Members who missed the meeting can contact Gina or Linda for their book.

Members should watch their email for sign-ups for the Thanksgiving meeting.  Bring a spouse or friend to join us for this popular annual meeting!

Is Beautification dangerous? Our Executive Board makes it seem that way! Past President Gayle Todd, President Gina Martin, Treasurer Donna Aycock and Secretary Linda Rast show off their new “fashion accessories”!

Hostesses Sharon Butler, JoAnn Burke and Becky Greene

Linda Rast welcomes new member Sandy McClellan with her sponsor Donna Aycock.

As time for the Festival By the Sea draws closer, the Art Committee continues to work on planters to sell in the HBBC booth.  The group met recently to paint the draped planters they had created earlier and allowed to dry.  The bright, cheerful colors will look stunning filled with fall blooms!   Make sure to stop by the HBBC booth at Festival By the Sea, October 29-30, to see the finished planters!

Members have been busy creating planters to be sold at Festival by the Sea, October 29-30.  The first work day was spent creating hyper-tufa planters.  The second work day members created draped planters.  The unique planters are made with a combination of cement and fabric and will be painted after they have dried.  Thanks ladies for all your hard work, we can’t wait to see the finished planters!

The Holden Beach Beautification Club kicked off another year with the theme “Cultivating Connections as We Bloom on the Coast”.  The speaker was Michelle Cousineau, curator of the Brunswick County Botanical Gardens in Bolivia, who presented “Fall Preparation of Your Garden”.   She shared tips on fall pruning, fertilizing and preparing for winter.  

Committee chairs shared their plans for the year and signed up volunteers.  The first field trip will be October 7 to Brunswick Town, a pre-revolutionary port town on the Cape Fear River.  We will leave the Chapel at 9:00AM for a 10:00AM film and guided tour followed by lunch in South Port.  Contact Diana Hadesty for more information or to sign up.

Cecelia Weston, Art Committee Chair, is coordinating workshops for hyper-tufa planters, draped planters and cement leaves for the Festival By the Sea.  Contact Cecelia for details and to help out.

Next month’s meeting will feature Sally Edge speaking on “Garden Mosaics”.  Sally has 20 years of experience with art glass and likes to use copper foiling and found pieces in her creations.

Speaker Michelle Cousineau, Gina Martin and Diana Hadesty.

Hostesses for the September meeting were Joyce Lanning, Connie Edwards, Carolyn Metrakos, and Donna Blume.

Make plans to enjoy the Seaside Garden Tour on Saturday, June 11th from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM.  The tour will feature nine island homes with gorgeous gardens, pools and patios.  Each of these homes offer exquisite landscaping for your enjoyment.  Tickets are only $10 and all proceeds are used to beautify Holden Beach.  Tickets are available for pre-sale or at Town Hall the day of the event.  This event only happens every other year, so make sure you don’t miss it!

Rendering of what the completed project will look like after the plants have had a chance to mature.

Get ready for a beautiful new welcome to Holden Beach!  Work has started on the landscaping project at the mainland side of the bridge.  The NCDOT contractor has begun clearing the area and plans to complete the project by June 6.  This project is a joint effort for HBBC with the Town, County and NCDOT.  HBBC will maintain the three beds after the first year, and the Town will provide water, electricity and mowing.  Check out the progress on our website.  We will update the page as the project progresses!  We are so excited to see a fresh entrance to our beach!

HBBC recently hosted the GCNC District 11 Presidents’ Meeting.   Forty four people from Emerald Isle to Calabash enjoyed morning coffee and snacks and a beautifully catered luncheon.  Committee chair Donna Aycock organized the event with a committee of 10 and Donna Blume, Peggy Allen, Bennie Hall, Cecelia Weston, and Pat Harrington added their talents by creating the centerpieces.  The Holden Beach Soul Line Dancers provided entertainment.

HBBC won three awards for the year:  First Place for landscaping for the Padgett Garden Extension, and Third Place for our Butterfly Garden.  We also received a Certificate of Honor for all the work we did during the year as a club.

The Holden Beach Beautification Club held the end of year Social on May 11, at The View Restaurant.  The social is the grand finale for a year of plantings, projects, landscaping and festivals. It is also the time new officers are inducted for the coming year and new chairmen of committees are announced.

Special guests were Mayor Alan Holden, Town Manager David Hewett, Town Clerk Heather Finnell and Parks and Rec Director Christy Ferguson.  The Town is a big supporter of HBBC during the year and we are so grateful for their help.

President Gayle Todd welcomed everyone and explained to those attending that the front of the program depicting our theme for the year, “To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow”, could be colored and entered into a contest for best “adult coloring” which would be judged at the end of the meeting. Members and guests colored throughout the meeting and social. FUN!  After a short speech by Gayle about the successful year for HBBC, Diana Hadesty blessed the food.

Awards were announced. Garden Club of North Carolina awarded HBBC first place in the state for landscaping design for the Padgett Garden Extension.  Sharon Butler gave out new members sponsor gifts, Gayle awarded the Trowel Award to Carolyn Metrakos and the Club Member of the Year Award, voted on by all the members, went to Donna Blume.

Gayle thanked the officers and committee chairs with a gift from her.  The Club presented Gayle with an engraved garden stone for her work as President.

Gayle then installed the new officers: Gina Martin, President, Fran Pompeii, 1st VP, Diana Hadesty 2nd VP, Lillian West, 3rd VP, Linda Rast, Secretary, and Donna Aycock, Treasurer.

Gina Martin expressed her thanks for support for the coming year and announced the chairmen for committees:  Becky Willis, Landscaping, Cecelia Weston, Art, Judy Brock, Awards,  Marlene Hahn, Sunshine/Devotion,  Pam Burris, YOM,  Pat Schwaiger, Plant Sale, and Seasonal Decorations to be announced.

Three prizes were given to best colored program, 1st place Becky Greene, 2nd place, Ann Landis and third place, Linda Rast.