Smith Gardens 50th Anniversary Celebration and Blanket Concert
4:00pm
Smith Gardens is a community treasure and is celebrated as: “An intimate setting and strolling place of rest…an open, green, colorful, quiet retreat on a busy street… a breathing space of green shade, and color for busy people”.
This year, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Oakwood receiving Smith Memorial Gardens as a gift from Mr. & Mrs. Carlton W. Smith. On Sunday, August 18, the city will have a 50th anniversary event and special blanket concert at the Gardens. It will begin at 4 p.m. and is open to the public.
The event will start with a group from the Ohio School of Falconry in Columbus who will demonstrate the sport of falconry. It promises to be a great display and performance including several birds of prey. Then at 5:30, Stan the Magic Man will join the celebration. Additionally as a part of the celebration there will be a beautiful sculpture on display built by well-known local artist, Michael Bashaw. At 7 p.m. Oakwood City Council will conduct a formal opening of the celebration and will recognize Leisure Services Director Carol Collins for 50 years of public service to Oakwood. Thereafter, by the last blanket concert of the season will commence. It will feature the popular group, the Puzzle of Light. Members of the Smith family
will be present to celebrate this 50th anniversary. Refreshments will be served during the event.
Located at the corner of Walnut Lane and Oakwood Avenue, Smith Gardens is open to the public from sunrise to sunset, year around. It provides a spectacular splash of intense color eight months out of the year and is a favorite place for many in our community and throughout the Dayton region.
Just shy of an acre, Smith Gardens includes landscape design incorporating several rock garden areas. The rock for these gardens was transported in the 1930s from the Yellow Springs area and provides the foundation for the overall garden layout and design. Incorporated in the middle section of the Garden is a sloped rock garden with a flowing stream running into a pond stocked with an abundance of goldfish and water lilies. Perennials line the east side of the Gardens with several hundred plant varieties in irregularly shaped and curved beds. On the northwest side of the Gardens is a garden house with a patio where visitors may sit, rest and enjoy the beauty and tranquility of the setting. The Gardens offer exceptionally beautiful views in the spring, summer and fall months with thousands of blooming bulbs, annuals and perennials.
Smith Gardens was graciously donated to the city by Mr. & Mrs. Carlton W. Smith, who lived on the south side of Walnut Lane, across the street from the Gardens. Receipt of the Gardens was accomplished through two actions of Oakwood City Council. On December 16, 1974, Council adopted Ordinance No. 2899 “to accept the donation of certain real estate from Jeannette H. Smith, and to authorize the creation of a certain trust account for the maintenance of a portion of said real estate.” The ordinance goes on to read: “This city hereby accepts two deeds of gift from Jeannette H. Smith donating certain real estate to the City of Oakwood, one parcel of which to be known as Smith Memorial Gardens and the other parcel to be sold to obtain funds for the maintenance of said Garden.” On December 30, 1974, Council adopted Ordinance No. 2901 which established the Carlton W. Smith and Jeannette H. Smith Memorial Garden Trust.
The City of Oakwood was honored to receive the gift 50 years ago and is pleased that the community continues to recognize the beautiful gardens as a tremendously valuable and singularly unique public space. It has served as a beautiful venue for countless weddings, proposal and photo shoots and has been nationally recognized in Ohio Magazine and in the book “Green ByWays” as being one of the finest public gardens in the state of Ohio. It has long been considered “a secret treasure on an ordinary street.”
The special anniversary Smith Gardens concert this year features Puzzle of Light. Puzzle of Light is a world-flavored quintet with roots reaching deep into jazz, blues, folk, African rhythms, Middle Eastern harmonies, Brazilian chords, and Old-World sounds. The band leaps nimbly from one inspiration to the next, wrapping them all in the signature Puzzle sound; in the course of one set, listeners might hear sources as varied as Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, Duke Ellington, Sting, Stanley Turrentine, John Hyatt and Dave Brubeck, among numerous original tunes.