Town's Geraniumfest Facing Uncertain Future

Lynnfield is in danger of losing one of its largest and most longstanding public events unless some volunteers emerge to help run Geraniumfest, warned Townscape President Frances Fleming Monday night at the selectmen's meeting.

The popular event  takes place each May on the Lynnfield Common and its main mission is to sell geraniums in order to help fund the purchase of trees for use in town beautification efforts. In its 25-year history, Townscape has planted about 800 trees in Lynnfield, many of which can be recognized by ribbons around them. Geraniumfest also tends to draw a number of craft vendors and local organizations, and other annual features include the Friends of the Lynnfield Library book sale and trolley rides. This year's Geraniumfest is scheduled for Saturday, May 19.

"If we don't get more involvement, this will be the end of Geraniumfest, but not Townscape," Fleming told the selectmen, going on to report that there are now only six people to do the bulk of the planning for the annual event. "There's a handful of us left and we can't keep doing the whole Geraniumfest."

To clarify, Townscape would continue to sell geraniums in Lynnfield each spring to help fund beautification efforts - just minus the "fest" part. Another scenario that Fleming raised during her presentation was the possibility that Geraniumfest could occur every two years or even every five years, depending on what, if any, new help can be found.

Fleming reported that she has reached out to many of the town's organizations, from scouts to schools to civic groups and town boards like the recreation and historical commissions to gauge their interest in getting involved.

"As this is our silver anniversary, we will try to make this year's Geraniumfest better than ever," she wrote in a letter to various town organizations. "We'd like to involve the Lynnfield community as much as possible, in the hope that this spring festival can continue."

The selectmen expressed concern for the future of Townscape, and cited an overall trend where many town entities now struggle to find volunteers. "Nobody's volunteering anymore and it's a real problem," said Select Board Chair Arthur Bourque. "People have forgotten what made this the great town it is... I hope some younger people will come along."