Garden benefits from Grub ‘n’ Roses

Freeman Gardens held a fundraiser, Friday, June 7, called Grub ‘n’ Roses.

From its 4 p.m. start, it attracted a considerable crowd which only grew until a 9 o’clock closing.

Hawthorne Avenue, where the gardens are located, was closed to traffic while people came with folding chairs and picnics or purchased from food trucks lining the avenue.

The Freeman Gardens Association, which runs the site, sold beer and wine inside.

According to Linda Castrilli, whose husband, Steve Zimet, started the event, Grub ‘n’ Roses is in its fifth year. The couple are association members.

Speaking as people milled about and with four hours to go, Castrilli said the crowd would only build.

“This is the calm before the storm,” she said.

She and her husband had once attended a similar event in Vermont built on a simple formula: Put up strings of lights, get food trucks and people will come.

“Last year’s Grub ‘n’ Roses was so successful that we were able to get the gardens an electrical upgrade and make a koi pond,” she said.

Zimet said when he saw the Burlington, Vermont event — a space for live music and vendors — he thought it would be a lovely idea to bring home.

“There was a lot of legwork finding the bands and food trucks,” he said. “Tonight, there are six trucks and seven bands. In our first year, we had two bands. And the musicians are all local folks volunteering their time.”

An additional attraction at the event was the partial restoration of the memorial rose garden which was decimated last year by rosette disease.

Eighty percent of the plants were lost and all soil had to be excavated in April.

It was subsequently used in areas of the garden without roses. It is estimated the full restoration will cost $10,000.

The gardens were deeded to the borough by the heirs of Clayton and Winifred Brownell Freeman and the Freeman Gardens Association organized in 1968.

  Freeman’s Garden, Glen Ridge