(Newport, RI) Celebrating its 16th year as America’s premier summer flower show, the 2011 Newport Flower Show will welcome visitors with the grace and sophistication that has raised entertaining to an art form in the City-by-the-Sea. Entertaining—Newport Style will be held on the historic grounds of Rosecliff, which hosted some of the most fabulous parties of the Gilded Age in the early 20th century and remains a setting for elegant receptions and entertainment to this day.
Benefitting The Preservation Society of Newport County, the Newport Flower Show will open on Friday morning, June 24, and run through Sunday, June 26. The Presenting Sponsor of the Newport Flower Show is Bartlett Tree Experts.
Special guests at the show will include renowned cake designer Sylvia Weinstock and international floral trend consultant Kevin Ylvisaker.
The Opening Night Cocktail Party on Friday, June 24, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., will launch Newport’s summer season with a cocktail buffet, live music, and entertaining surprises. The show will continue through the weekend with themed floral exhibits that highlight Newport’s history of entertaining, horticultural entries, garden designs, and photography, all staged throughout the elegant reception rooms of Rosecliff, its oceanfront terrace and lawn.
Arriving guests will pass through a series of pavilions and gardens on Rosecliff’s front lawn that are designed to showcase outdoor entertaining, while also browsing the Gardeners’ Marketplace for specialty plants, flowers and garden accessories. The shopping experience will continue on the back lawn, in the Oceanside Boutiques featuring additional garden and lifestyle-related products and services.
From the first settlers until today, Newporters have taken great pride in their landscapes and gardens, considered central to summer life and entertaining. In fact, the estate gardeners of Newport came together in 1890 to form a horticultural society and offer prizes in what was Newport’s first organized flower show. Our show will pay homage to these horticultural artists by offering a class specifically for the current estate gardeners of Newport.
The Newport Flower Show will be open to the public from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, June 24, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, June 25 & 26. Advance sale and Preservation Society member admission tickets are $17 per person. At the door tickets will be $25 on Friday, $23 on Saturday or Sunday. A special “Bring a Friend” ticket is available for Sunday, June 26 only, providing 2 adult admissions for $29. Tickets for children between the ages of 13 and 17 are $6, and all children 12 and under are admitted free.
Admission to the Opening Night Cocktail Party and Buffet is $125 for Preservation Society members, and $150 for non-members, if purchased before June 10. After that date, cocktail party prices will be $140 for members and $165 for non-members.
Our special guests will headline Luncheon Lectures on Friday and Saturday of the Newport Flower Show. On Friday, June 24, attendees can learn the latest trends in floral design from Kevin Ylvisaker, an international lecturer and cutting-edge Design Director for Oasis. Kevin has 35 years experience in the floral industry. He was a member of the design teams for the inaugurations of Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, and has judged at the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, CA. Tickets for the Luncheon and Lecture are $80 per person. Lecture only tickets are available for $40.
Sylvia Weinstock is the undisputed “Queen of Cake.” Her pastiche flowers are so lifelike and artfully placed that she would easily qualify as a floral arranger. For 35 years, she has been producing the most fantastic cakes for the world’s most exclusive clients and parties. On Saturday, June 25, following a luncheon on the lawn, Sylvia will share how she integrates flowers into her cake art and her love of entertaining. After the lecture, she will sign her exquisite books. Tickets for the Luncheon and Lecture are $80 per person. Lecture only tickets are available for $40.
Free lectures and demonstrations by noted plant experts, flower designers and gardeners will also be presented throughout the weekend. For more information and to purchase tickets for the Newport Flower Show, visit www.NewportFlowerShow.org, or call (401) 847-1000.
The Newport Flower Show is also sponsored by Brooks Brothers Country Club, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Southern New England/Dasani, National Trust Insurance Services, Northern Trust and Walpole Woodworkers.
With Newport’s largest private ballroom, Rosecliff was constructed in 1902 as a party pavilion for one of the leading society hostesses of the Gilded Age. This snow-white terra-cotta mansion, modeled after the Grand Trianon at Versailles, was created for Theresa Fair Oelrichs, heir to the Comstock silver lode in Nevada. It hosted many of the most fabulous entertainments of the period, including a fairy-tale dinner and a party featuring magician Harry Houdini.
All proceeds from the Newport Flower Show benefit the ongoing landscape restoration efforts of The Preservation Society of Newport County, a private non-profit organization accredited by the American Association of Museums and dedicated to preserving and interpreting the area’s historic architecture, landscapes and decorative arts. Its 11 historic properties—seven of them National Historic Landmarks—span more than 250 years of American architectural and social development.
