Given the moderating temperatures we’ve decided that it’s time to end our hibernation and get back to work cleaning up our beloved Silvermont Park. This Saturday, February 1, at 10 AM we will be gathering at Silvermont to pick up winter deadfall, collect leaves along the Main St sidewalk and begin planning the trailheads for the natural woodland trail we have been establishing. We plan to be working for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
We hope you will join us as we get back in the swing of monthly Deadfall and Clean Up days.
Though Friends of Silvermont is taking a break this year from Pumpkin Fest, we just can’t resist halloween-themed fun! We’ve teamed with Heart of Brevard to participate in their annual Halloween Fest activities on Saturday, October 26, from 10 am-5 pm.
In addition to the fun in downtown Brevard, a two-block walk down East Main Street will bring you to Silvermont Park, where we’ll have free activities for young and old alike.
An abbreviated version of our popular white squirrel scavenger hunt, with prizes for counting the white squirrels found around the paved walking path
Temporary tattoos
Coloring and sidewalk chalk
Ring toss, hula hoops, and cornhole games
Haybale toss (adults only, at 4 pm – sign up at the DAR booth downtown)
Tours of the historic Silvermont Mansion
The popular pet costume contest starts at Silvermont at 1:30, with participants lining up in the parking lot before parading downtown for judging.
Come join us for more family-friendly fun. Volunteers from Friends of Silvermont will also be on site to tell you about mansion restoration projects, monthly volunteer opportunities, and planning for Pumpkin Fest 2025.
While almost all of us are dealing with some form of our own issues, clean ups, and repairs, Silvermont Park is also in need of some love and attention. We would like to get a start on Saturday, October 5 from 9 to 11 AM. This will be a true “Deadfall Day” in the sense that much of what has to be dealt with is fallen limbs, branches, leaves and debris. There are two trees down, the smaller of which was blocking the path by the tennis court. It has been cut back from the path and we will attempt to better clear the area. The county has already cut and moved some of the much larger fallen hemlock tree by the playground and we will leave that one for the county to remove but clean up where we can. There are many bundles of smaller sticks and branches collected around the park and we will move them up to the parking lot for the debris truck.
If you have some time to spare, we would appreciate your help on Saturday. We may hold another clean-up day later this month and will inform you once that is scheduled.
The monthly deadfall and park clean up day is scheduled for 9-11 am on Saturday, September 7 at Silvermont. Come join other Friends of Silvermont volunteers as we pull weeds and do some pruning and thinning on our (under construction) nature path. Bring gloves and your favorite gardening tools and meet in the parking lot at 9 am.
Friends of Silvermont will be holding its regular Deadfall Day on Saturday, August 3 from 9 AM to about 11 AM at Silvermont Park. Please join other intrepid and like-minded volunteers as we continue to improve the grounds at Silvermont. We will be doing some weeding and continuing the work on the new nature path we plan to complete this year.
Bring your favorite gardening tools and gloves and meet at the parking lot. The forecast calls for sunny skies with temperatures creeping up toward 80 degrees so dress appropriately and bring water.
Friends of Silvermont will be holding our monthly deadfall and clean up day at Silvermont Park on Saturday, July 6 from 9-11 am. Projects include work on a new woodland path and general weeding and cleanup in other areas of the park. Volunteers are encouraged to bring gardening tools, gloves, and water. We’ll meet in the parking lot at 9 am — come join us!
The next monthly Friends of Silvermont Deadfall Day is scheduled for 9 AM to about 11 AM this Saturday, June 1, at Silvermont Park. Please come and join other volunteers as we tidy things up. We will pick up fallen branches, do some weeding and continue planning and the early preparations for the new nature path we hope to complete this year.
Bring your favorite gardening tools and gloves and meet at the parking lot for continued spring cleaning and other park improvements.
Friends of Silvermont will be holding a membership event at the mansion from 2-4 pm on Sunday, June 23. Summer@Silvermont will feature children’s activities, tours of the mansion museum, and live music. It’s also a great time to join Friends of Silvermont with a modest contribution of $15 for an individual membership or $25 for a family membership. Even better, Pelican’s Snoballs will be at the park and Friends of Silvermont is providing free snoballs for our members.
It’s a great opportunity to learn more about Silvermont, our plans for improving it, and volunteer opportunities. Come join us!
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Spring is a time of rapid change at Silvermont, as a succession of flowers and shrubs burst into bloom. Some real beauties were on show this week as Friends of Silvermont Board member Joni Pavlik took a stroll on the paved path around the mansion. It was a little rainy, which of course the flowers love!
Mountain laurel, possibly Minuet varietyDeutzia perhaps – can any gardeners ID this one?HostaBench with pansies – thanks, Master Gardeners!Arbor with coral honeysuckle
The monthly deadfall and clean-up day for Silvermont Park is scheduled from 9-11 am on Saturday, May 11. It’s spring, and our little weedy friends are popping up all over the park. Come join other volunteers as we tidy things up. Bring your favorite gardening tools and gloves and meet at the parking lot for a little spring cleaning, with a focus on weed removal.
Friends of Silvermont, the all-volunteer non-profit group that stages the popular annual Pumpkin Fest at Silvermont Park, has decided to postpone Pumpkin Fest 2024 to allow time to thoroughly review all aspects of the event to make it more efficient and sustainable.
“The Friends of Silvermont Board and our core volunteer group are, sadly, not immune to the passage of time,” stated Erik Rasmussen, past president of Friends of Silvermont. He continued, “Too much of what we know and what we do as an organization is related to the experience of a small group of people who have been leading and supporting it for many years, more than a decade for some. Facing this reality, we have been actively working on the sustainability of this organization at many levels.”
It takes a massive nearly year-long volunteer effort to put on the four weekends of Pumpkin Fest. Increasingly, this effort has fallen mainly on a group of 12-15 people, mostly in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. Inevitably, they are suffering volunteer burnout due to contributing hundreds of volunteer hours prior to and during the event. Taking a gap year in 2024 is necessary to continue Pumpkin Fest in its current form. During that time, the organization will evaluate the event and document processes so that additional core volunteers can be trained. Additionally, the Pumpkin Fest team will devise ways to simplify the setup and takedown procedures.
In lieu of Pumpkin Fest in 2024, Friends of Silvermont is planning to have a small, one day event at Silvermont during the Heart of Brevard’s Halloweenfest. The two groups are defining details for that event, but it will be during the daytime and have Halloween-themed activities for kids, mansion museum tours, and music.
Pumpkin Fest 2023 was a very successful fundraiser, raising 40% more money to support Silvermont as compared to 2022. The extra proceeds from 2023 are sufficient to continue Friends of Silvermont’s work supporting the park in 2024 and 2025.
There will be a lot of disappointment within Transylvania County and beyond due to this postponement. The Pumpkin Fest team is already conducting a thorough review of the event and all supporting aspects. They have already identified several improvements that will ease the burden on core volunteers. “Now we have the benefit of time to think about what we do, how we do it and how to document and pass along that knowledge so that Pumpkin Fest can be better than ever in 2025 and continue as a Transylvania County tradition for many years to come,” said Rasmussen.
Friends of Silvermont will be holding our monthly deadfall and clean-up day this Saturday, April 13, from 10 am to about 12 noon. Our main project is to do some weeding in the mulch bed along East Main Street.
We have also recently obtained three small trees to plant as part of our ongoing effort to add native species to replace lost trees and judiciously beautify the park in honor of Earth Day. We have identified possible locations for these trees, but still must confirm that there are no utilities in the way. Final approval from the County is pending so we do not know if we can put them in the ground in the desired locations this Saturday. Regardless of whether we plant the trees or not, there is still plenty more to do.
Please bring your favorite gardening tools and gloves and join us. We’ll be meeting in the front parking lot along East Main Street at 10 am.
The Reader’s Theatre is one of the activity groups that has met regularly at Silvermont for several years. They convene weekly on Mondays from 1-2:30 pm and read scenes, monologues, poetry, essays, and sometimes full-length plays on a variety of topics. Everyone is welcome to join in, either as a reader or just to listen.
The group occasionally performs for audiences, and its most recent performance was on March 25 at Silvermont. Ably directed by Julie Vorus and Alan Edick, the group has been rehearsing short comic pieces for several weeks, culminating in a 90-minute show presented as a benefit performance for Silvermont. Twelve talented local performers read scenes set in the Department of Motor Vehicles, to Cinderella’s therapist’s waiting room, to a saloon in the old west, and many places in between.
Reader’s theatre is a great way to stretch your acting muscles without having to memorize lines or remembering stage directions. If you’d like to be part of the fun, drop in on any Monday from 1-2:30 pm.
