Expansion Mode
Yew Dell Gardens unveils new pavilion
Annual ‘Twilight’ fundraiser was held in the new facility
CRESTWOOD, Ky. (December 2016) – Yew Dell Botanical Gardens’ latest expansion project is the Mary F. Roundsavall Pavilion. Dedicated to a past board president, the new facility is a perfect shelter for all types of events.
“Mary was Yew Dell’s board president and chief fundraiser from 2001 until 2015 when she stepped down from the board president post,” said Paul Cappiello, executive director of Yew Dell Botanical Gardens. “She remains on the board and runs our fundraising committee.”
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Photo provided The Mary F. Roundsavall Pavilion at Yew Dell Botanical Gardens is pictured above. |
Cappiello, who has been at Yew Dell since 2002, continued, saying that Roundsavall “is a force of nature when it comes to building and running non-profits. She has been an exemplary leader, and the board and staff felt that she deserved to be honored with a naming gift for the pavilion.”
Roundsavall first viewed the estate in 1999 when her garden club met there. The owner, Theodore Klein, had passed away the previous year, and its future was uncertain. She could see potential in restoring the 33-acre property and set about doing just that.
Yew Dell planned the pavilion to provide a “more attractive (than tents) option for weddings, corporate events, our events, reduce wear and tear on the grounds and on our staff, provide weather back-up for our other outdoor community events and generate additional revenue to support our annual operating fund,” Cappiello said.
Yew Dell receives no federal, state or local government support, so “we have to raise over $1 million each year to keep our gates open to the public.”
The new pavilion occupies a 66x100-foot option for event space. This includes lighting, fans and rental of the facility with 60-inch round tables. There is a large garden space with benches for casual seating, landscape lighting, and new restrooms on the new pavilion level. The facility is fully accessible.
The pavilion was put to the test for this year’s Twilight in the Garden fundraising event on Oct. 14.
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Photo provided The new Mary F. Roundsavall Pavilion will be used for all sorts of events, including weddings, corporate retreats, concerts and workshops. |
“The event was held under and around the new pavilion. We had over 300 people for cocktails, dinner and live and silent auctions,” Cappiello said.
Ample space is needed for Twilight since it “is our largest annual fundraiser and helps support all of our programs and activities throughout the year,” said Jackie Gulbe, Marketing and Events Director for Yew Dell Botanical Gardens.
Gulbe said auction items included “an Oaks Box for eight in the Sky Terrace, a lovely Naples home for a week, and a very unique home in France.”
Entertainment was provided by Hewn from the Mountains’ Tom McShane, who played a wide variety of acoustic instruments during cocktail hour.
This year’s event was “one of our best ever,” said Cappiello.
“Twilight in the Garden is our biggest and most important fundraiser of the year and is also a good chance for us to show off the place to some of our donors who may not get a chance to visit very often during the year.”
“We usually have about 320 guests for the evening,” said Gulbe. Twilight in the Garden “is an enchanting place to be on a fall evening with friends while supporting Yew Dell.”
Cappiello said, “We are entirely supported each year by fundraisers like Twilight along with membership, donations, rental revenue, Garden Gift Shop sales and corporate sponsorships.”
Yew Dell offers a varied slate of classes and events year-round from garden lectures to hands-on workshops, plant walks, festivals and programs for families and kids, casual gardeners, homeowners and avid plant lovers
Such activities include the Hummingbird & Bees Festival, Boo Dell at Yew Dell, wreath-making classes in December, Plant Sale & Garden Market in the spring, Garden Art Sculpture Show and Children in the Dell.
Future uses for the pavilion include everything from wedding and corporate retreats to outdoor movie nights, farmers markets, concerts, garden workshops and farm to table dinners. “We had a very successful movie night that was cosponsored with the Speed Museum and Louisville Film Society,” said Cappiello.
Other buildings on the property include a tobacco barn, which houses the Visitor Center and Garden Gift Shop, the castle, Klein’s Cotswolds-styled home (Administrative Offices), Gheens Barn and Peyton Samuel Head Trust Pavilion, Mary Peabody and Henry Fitzhugh Hickox Greenhouse and the Preston T. Ormsby Horticulture Center.