Spring festival at Cuyamaca includes fashion and flowers

An artist paints among drought-tolerant plants at The Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College's 2013 Spring Garden Festival. This year's event is scheduled for May 3. - Karen Pearlman/U-T

— Fashion wow-ers and passion flowers will share the proverbial stage at Cuyamaca College as part of the school's Spring Garden Festival.

A fundraising 'Fashion in Bloom' show will be part of the community college's 21st annual event, set for 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on May 3 at several places on campus and at neighboring venues. The fashion show will showcase more than 100 students, college staff and their families strutting down a runway as part of this year's festival, with clothes for sale afterward.

The Spring Garden Festival, the school's annual celebration, draws nearly 7,000 people for the event, held concurrently with other spring-related events at The Water Conservation Garden and Heritage of the Americas Museum, both of which sit on the outskirts of the Rancho San Diego college. The weekly Rancho San Diego Farmers Market held in one of the school's parking lots will also be a part of the celebration.

'Fashion in Bloom' will feature spring and summer ready-to-wear attire, as well as tuxedos and gowns, according to school communications spokeswoman Della Elliott.

Elliott said all clothing will be 80 percent off retail prices. Proceeds from the sale, as well as 10 percent of sales from the farmers market and other vendors, will go to a fundraising campaign called 'Share the Future,' for student scholarships and college programs. The show is set for 11 to 11:30 a.m. in the Student Center quad with the clothing sale starting immediately after the show until 1 p.m.

More than 100 vendors and artists will be offering their wares and services during the event, which also includes an all-day ornamental horticulture plant sale at the college's nursery. The sale will feature an assortment of ornamental and drought-tolerant plants. Money raised at sales from the nursery supplement the Ornamental Horticulture program's regular funding, and helps to pay for supplies and equipment. The nursery is a learning lab for students on the identification, care and landscape uses of Southern California's ornamental trees and shrubs.

The Water Conservation Garden will also hold a succulent plant sale and host sustainability exhibits in its amphitheater. There will also be an all-day health and safety fair in the school's Child Development Center parking lot and Sheriff's Department K-9 and SWAT demonstrations along with a public safety helicopter landing from 1 to 3 p.m. on campus.

This year's event theme, 'Celebrating Community Farms and Gardens,' will highlight a new 'Intergenerational Garden.' The garden is located on a 1/3-acre plot between the Water Conservation Garden and Cuyamaca's Child Development Center.

Funded by a grant from San Diego County and built with the help of community volunteers, the garden links older gardeners, mostly recruited from the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County, with youngsters under the care of the Child Development Center. Once a vacant site with mountains of mulch and debris, the intergenerational garden, when completed, 'will boast a variety of produce and lots of whimsical touches, including an amphitheater and a meandering creek,' Elliott said.

The Heritage of the Americas Museum will have docent-led tours of the natural history, archaeology, anthropology and art wings of the venue at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. An arts and crafts show and sale is also planned, with demonstrations by bead artist Rosendo Carrillo planned throughout the day.

Admission and parking to the Spring Garden Festival, is free. Tickets to the fashion show range from $5-$18 and can be purchased online at http://ift.tt/1qrhxgF Cuyamaca College is at 900 Rancho San Diego Parkway.