The Northwest Flower &Garden Show will bloom for the last time this year.
Show owner Duane Kelly announced Friday that he and his wife, Alice, who produced their first show in 1989, will permanently retire from flower show production.
More than 1.5 million people have attended the Seattle show over the past two decades with attendance between 60,000 and 80,000 annually.
Kelly said he is selling his Seattle company, Salmon Bay Events, which owns the Seattle show as well as the San Francisco Flower &Garden Show, which is also for sale. Together the garden shows are the second- and third-largest in the country, following only the Philadelphia Flower Show, founded in 1829.
“We had hoped to sell the shows to buyers that are committed to maintaining their level of quality,” Kelly said in a prepared statement. “However, to date, we have been unsuccessful.”
News of the show’s likely demise comes just weeks before the 2009 show, still scheduled to run Feb. 18 to 22 at the Washington State Convention &Trade Center in downtown Seattle.
“For gardeners, this is like canceling Christmas,” said Sandy Schumacher, director of the Evergreen Arboretum &Gardens in Everett. “The Northwest garden calendar begins with the flower and garden show and we are known to count the days when November brings the dark days of late fall and winter.
“I can’t think of one place that provides so much education and inspiration in a matter of days and can only hope that rather than cancel, they consider scaling it back.”
Kelly, who expects this year’s show to be a spectacular finale, said he intends to spend more time with his wife while also working more on his other career as a playwright.
Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037, sjackson@heraldnet.com
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