Jean MacBride
Garden Center superintendent Lori King poses in front of the fair’s sand sculpture.
ESSEX JUNCTION — The Champlain Valley Fair’s Garden Center was buzzing with activity this weekend as people admired homegrown treasures in an updated space.
Located in the Expo North building, the center features award-winning plants in a variety of categories from bonsai trees to painted pumpkins. Fair-goers might notice the space has a refreshed look for 2025.
Lori King serves as superintendent of the center and said the job is fun but busy.
“There’s a lot going on in here, and there’s always exhibits here to look at,” she said this past Saturday. “It’s just [about] keeping everything looking good, and trying to keep the flowers as fresh as possible.”
The Garden Center is busy with competitions. The first round of fruit, vegetable and flower judging was on Friday, including giant pumpkins, fresh-cut flowers and container-grown plants. The official giant pumpkin weigh-in happened on Thursday with the winner being prominently displayed in a white, fenced in space. Youth vegetable judging was being held later in the day on Saturday.
King has been working as superintendent for three years and prior to that served in the Garden Center as a volunteer. She began by helping maintain the plants as a Claussen’s Greenhouse employee before shifting into her new role when the previous superintendent retired.
For King, agriculture is not only an exhibit at the fair but a way of Vermont life.
“Vermont is an agricultural state,” she said. “Agriculture is huge for us here, and then there’s people who maybe have never even seen a cow or some of the agricultural things that happen here.”
The variety of exhibits, spanning from bright, puffy bouquets of flowers to long and bumpy squashes, also shows the diversity of what can grow in the state, King said.
“It shows the beauty of Vermont, and all that we have to offer,” she said. “The flowers are gorgeous that come in [for example] so that’s something that we want to keep a hold of and certainly promote that as much as possible.”
Coinciding with this emphasis on tradition, the center was freshened up this year with new paint on displays and by moving the sand sculpture to the middle to improve the flow of people. The plants grown by children also get their own space, complete with a chalkboard table.
“It’s just about getting people to come around and enjoy it and have enough space to walk around and admire [things],” King said.
The Garden Center is open during fair hours, 10 a.m-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and noon-10 p.m. on weekdays until Aug. 31 at the Expo North building.
Be sure to check out photos of the center below, including ones of the sand sculpture and giant pumpkin.
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