Rotary Club and Goldsmith Seeds sale raises $39,000 to benefit
charities
Gilroy – The recent weather may have been a wash for many spring sports this year, but fans of the Gilroy Rotary Flower Sale lined up Saturday by the hundreds despite heavy rains.
Every year Goldsmith Seeds partners with the Rotary Club, donating thousands of plants to be sold for charity. Flower enthusiasts wait for hours outside before the doors open for the pick of the plants.
“When I showed up at five in the morning to open the gates to just get onto the property there were two volunteers from Rotary and a customer,” said Joel Goldsmith. “I think the weather affected the sale, but we still had a very impressive turnout.”
Hundreds lined the outside of the Goldsmith Seeds waiting for the 8am start.
“We figured they might as well be inside – warm, dry and purchasing plants,” Goldsmith said of opening the doors 15 minutes early.
The event raises as much as $50,000 for charity each year. Half the funds supports horticultural scholarships for local students and the rest towards local programs. The Goldsmith family has sold off the remaining plants from their spring flower trials to benefit charity for the past 16 years. This year $39,000 was raised.
“It’s down some from the past two years, ” Goldsmith said. “Nobody’s ready to go out and garden. For people to line up and buy plants they can’t even put in the ground for at least a week, I was impressed.”
The most popular purchases included vibrant tuberous begonias, Goldsmith said.
“Maybe it was because of all the rain – people were looking for something bright,” he said.
