Renovating the Estonian Garden has been the result of a lot of hard work and effort on the Garden committee’s part.  Now all of that hard work is coming to fruition with construction well underway.  See the attached photos for the plan and an interim shot of the progress.

Estonian Renovated Garden Design

August Status Estonian Renovation

Most of the infrastructure work on the new Armenian Cultural Garden has been completed.  See photos below demonstrating as much.  Their flag pole, flag and Garden sign have also been installed.  Landscaping will now go forward, however, due to the hot weather and lack of a water outlet in the Garden the landscaping will be “basic” at best, for now.

The Garden’s dedication will be the kickoff event for One World Day on September 19th, Sunday, at 1 PM.

Monument's MLK Jr. Blvd, or front, face bearing Armenian Alphabet

Monument and bench rear sides with Pride of the Nation listing

Monument, bench and vesica piscis oval symbol of the walkway

Pavers and walkway close-up shot

Celebrating Liszt and St. Stephen, the Hungarian Cultural Garden committee put together  a remarkably entertaining event with perfect summer weather, a major tree planting and general good time on Sunday, August 14th, 2010.

Outstanding musicians from America’s pre-eminent musical conservatories playing Liszt and Kodály, among others to enthusiastic applause: Vera Holczer on piano and Ariel Clayton on violin.  Theodore Horvath’s strong and melodic voice lead everyone in the US national anthem and Himnusz (national anthem of Hungary).  Greg Polyak ably MC’d the event.  Lel Somogyi gave detailed exposition on St. Stephen’s place in Hungarian history and the always most generous landscaper Ed Radick gave tours after the program, answered questions about the Garden and went on planting trees.

Generous supporters of the Hungarian Garden planted 22 new hawthorns at the Garden’s East Blvd entrance:  Carolyn and Jim Balogh, Jenny Brown, Cleveland Hungarian Development Panel, Phil and Susan Ertel, Judit Puskas, Kori and Tom Smith, and St. Emeric Altar Guild.  Ably assisted by the remarkable Ernie Mihaly.

See the following selected photos of the event:

Shady part of 80 in attendance

Ariel Clayton & Vera Holczer entertain

Tree planters--hearts of gold and shovels, too

Syrian Cultural Garden Design

The new Syrian Cultural Garden’s much awaited ground breaking took place Wednesday, August 11, 2010.

Looking forward to seeing its infrastructure arise on the site.  See Syrian Cultural Garden page for details on the replication of famous Syrian sites which will soon be found here.

Syrian Garden construction begins August 11, 2010