Garden club members travel for a day out

Members of the Fulton Garden Club hosted a trip Thursday, June 22, 2017 to Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, accompanied by members of other clubs in Mexico, Columbia and Eldon. About 40 people joined the adventure.
Members of the Fulton Garden Club hosted a trip Thursday, June 22, 2017 to Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, accompanied by members of other clubs in Mexico, Columbia and Eldon. About 40 people joined the adventure.

ST. LOUIS - While the day didn't quite end as smoothly as it began, members of the Fulton Garden Club and their guests enjoyed most of a full day out in St. Louis on Thursday.

"I think it went well," said Diane Neterer, president of the Fulton Garden Club, after the jaunt. "I asked if everybody saw what they wanted to see, and they said that they did."

About 40 gardening enthusiasts boarded a bus in Fulton early in the morning and traveled to the Missouri Botanical Garden, the National Garden Clubs headquartered next door, and then to Fitz's Root Beer across the street from Blueberry Hill, a landmark restaurant and music club made famous by musician Chuck Berry who often played there before his death in March.

Karen Blackmore, president of the Missouri Federated Garden Club, joined the group for the day.

"She loves to tell a good joke, and hear a good joke," Neterer said.

Neterer was truly the hero of the day when on the way home, belts broke in the engine of the bus, rendering it useless on the side of Interstate 64 just east of Interstate 70. She cheerfully distributed iced bottles of water, candy treats and green grapes to passengers who waited two hours and 15 minutes for a bus replacement, trying to keep spirits bright.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Cpl. Shane M. Kaden, assistant zone commander of Zone 3 in south St. Louis County, gallantly stayed with the stranded group, ferrying some members to a cooling area up the road when the heat became too much.

Neterer said the next FGC meeting will be 1:30 p.m. July 13 at the Callaway County Library with a program about Ducks Unlimited.

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