Boca’s Most Historic Places Depicted in Beautiful Ornaments
By Veronica Haggar
The beauty of Boca Raton’s most remarkable places has been captured and portrayed in an ornament series by Boca Raton Garden Club.
The 3-dimensional art pieces come out during the holiday season just in time to decorate the Christmas trees.
The ornament series started 22 years ago in 1994, with the Old Town Hall as the very first ornament of the collection. This year’s ornament honors Spanish River Park.
“Every year since 1994, we have come up with a different location in Boca,” said Carol Rice, ornament chairman at the Boca Gardening Club. “We try to pick a historic location in Boca. Most of them are historic and others are just very important.”
Boca Raton Garden Club has run out of the earliest ornaments from the 90s.
“We’re lucky if we have one or two,” said Rice about the earliest ornaments from the series. “We do not re-order when we run out because the ornaments are collectibles.”
The ornaments’ value goes up through the years. The oldest the ornament, the more expensive the price would be. When an ornament comes out, it can be purchased for $18 each.
“If I had the very first ornament to sell you which was the Old Town Hall, that one is $100,” states Rice. “Then the second ornament is another example, the Train Depot, I believe that one is $75. We don’t raise the value every single year but just once in awhile.”
Rice is one of the two members in the committee who decide what place will be depicted next as an ornament. This year is the first time that a park has been chosen to be done.
“What I usually do is I make a visit to the Boca Historical Society,” said Rice explaining how she finds the inspiration for an ornament. “For Spanish River Park, they brought out files of old articles about the park, and in one of those files there was a black and white photograph of this, of what the ornament is,” continued Rice.
The ornaments come out a little different from the photographs due to all the 3-dimensional details added to it, which makes it more appealing.
The proceeds from the ornaments benefit many educational and environmental projects and also help fund scholarships awarded by the Boca Raton Garden Club.
For more information visit http://www.bocaratongardenclub.org.
