| Woody Olsen & Greg Hodapp |
In 1990, Woody Olsen and I moved to LaSalle Drive, the neighborhood of
the Dearborn Garden Walk. At that time, some of the very popular gardens
were on LaSalle. We heard our neighbors exclaiming enthusiastically
about the Dearborn Garden Walk, and so, we decided to attend our first
Dearborn Garden Walk the following summer. We were very impressed
with the event and wanted to enter our garden in the Dearborn Garden
Walk, the following year. At the time that I called to enter the garden, we
were asked to join the Dearborn Garden Walk planning committee. It was
1992 when we first joined the committee, and by 1994, we were asked to co-
chair the Dearborn Garden Walk, after only two years of passionate
committee work. Each of us was elected to serve on the North Dearborn
Association (NDA) Board of Directors. Woody and I co-chaired the Garden
Walk from 1994 through 1997. At which time, 1997, we were both honored
with the NDA’s Dottie Revelos Outstanding Volunteer Award. Then, I
served as NDA Vice-President from 1998 through 2002. In 2003, the
Dearborn Garden Walk needed to make some critical decisions about the
future of the event. Earlier, the garden walk consisted of over 60 gardens
that would include front gardens, parkways, and the occasional lavish
private rear garden. The NDA only asked for a small donation of $5 which
often went uncollected, and the sixty garden were difficult to control and
monitor, and street festival style event was very expensive to produce. At
this decision time, Woody and I came forward, offered to co-chair the
Dearborn Garden Walk once again and proposed a revamping of the
Dearborn Garden Walk. With this revamping, the Dearborn Garden Walk
would include only the private, rear gardens, and we would require a more
expensive ticket, not a donation, to view the private spaces that would be
monitored by volunteer garden greeters. The new format proved to be so
successful that the Dearborn Garden was featured in the New York Times
in 2006 and was included with international festivals in 2005. For the 50th
Anniversary Garden Walk, we introduced designer vignettes to the Walk.
Vignettes are specially designed themed displays temporarily installed in
the garden just for the day of the Walk, and the vignette concept has
continued and expanded. The vignettes are a concept that Woody and I
wanted to bring to the Walk, as Woody studied fine art at the Minneapolis
College of Art and Design, and I studied interior design. The vignette
themes have featured children’s fairy tales and award winning films. This
year’s vignette theme paid tribute to Hollywood legend, Elizabeth Taylor.
With the new format, Woody and I have co-chaired the Dearborn Garden
Walk from 2003 to 2011.
the Dearborn Garden Walk. At that time, some of the very popular gardens
were on LaSalle. We heard our neighbors exclaiming enthusiastically
about the Dearborn Garden Walk, and so, we decided to attend our first
Dearborn Garden Walk the following summer. We were very impressed
with the event and wanted to enter our garden in the Dearborn Garden
Walk, the following year. At the time that I called to enter the garden, we
were asked to join the Dearborn Garden Walk planning committee. It was
1992 when we first joined the committee, and by 1994, we were asked to co-
chair the Dearborn Garden Walk, after only two years of passionate
committee work. Each of us was elected to serve on the North Dearborn
Association (NDA) Board of Directors. Woody and I co-chaired the Garden
Walk from 1994 through 1997. At which time, 1997, we were both honored
with the NDA’s Dottie Revelos Outstanding Volunteer Award. Then, I
served as NDA Vice-President from 1998 through 2002. In 2003, the
Dearborn Garden Walk needed to make some critical decisions about the
future of the event. Earlier, the garden walk consisted of over 60 gardens
that would include front gardens, parkways, and the occasional lavish
private rear garden. The NDA only asked for a small donation of $5 which
often went uncollected, and the sixty garden were difficult to control and
monitor, and street festival style event was very expensive to produce. At
this decision time, Woody and I came forward, offered to co-chair the
Dearborn Garden Walk once again and proposed a revamping of the
Dearborn Garden Walk. With this revamping, the Dearborn Garden Walk
would include only the private, rear gardens, and we would require a more
expensive ticket, not a donation, to view the private spaces that would be
monitored by volunteer garden greeters. The new format proved to be so
successful that the Dearborn Garden was featured in the New York Times
in 2006 and was included with international festivals in 2005. For the 50th
Anniversary Garden Walk, we introduced designer vignettes to the Walk.
Vignettes are specially designed themed displays temporarily installed in
the garden just for the day of the Walk, and the vignette concept has
continued and expanded. The vignettes are a concept that Woody and I
wanted to bring to the Walk, as Woody studied fine art at the Minneapolis
College of Art and Design, and I studied interior design. The vignette
themes have featured children’s fairy tales and award winning films. This
year’s vignette theme paid tribute to Hollywood legend, Elizabeth Taylor.
With the new format, Woody and I have co-chaired the Dearborn Garden
Walk from 2003 to 2011.
