Thanksgiving is behind us, today is Black Friday, the coronavirus is still with us, and we now turn our attention to The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s annual holiday wreath project, sadly cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. Club members and past purchasers were notified of this state of affairs in an October mailing, but we didn’t go into all the reasons behind our thinking. First and foremost was concern for the health of our volunteers. We make the wreaths in the basement of The First Lutheran Church of Boston, a venue where social distancing and proper ventilation would be challenging. As with all public spaces, we could not be assured the Church could rent to us if State or City guidelines became stricter as case numbers rise. Our volunteers are, in some instances, sheltering away from Back Bay. We always anticipate Wreath Week with excitement, and its loss in 2020 cuts deeply. Luckily we have a collection of photographs from years past, to bring some cheer and inspiration from now through the New Year.

Generous members have contributed to bring these posts to you, and today we thank Nancy Devereaux, our director of site operations and able second-in-command bow maker, as our first Wreath of the Day sponsor. Contributions can be made at https://bostonflora.com/donate/ and we will be happy to acknowledge your support in a future post. All proceeds to our all volunteer organization go to the support of tree care and neighborhood beautification projects.

Below is a wreath from 2008, hung outside the Church ready for delivery, with some of the address information edited out for privacy. We chose this image as an example of the many steps necessary before the wreath gets to the door – the production of the paperwork, the decorating in conformance to order specifications, the quality control, and the assignment to our drivers and driving assistants.