‘Grow Anywhere Tour’ – Going to Kansas City
Burpee Edible Gardening Team Members
After a long drive across the plains of Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas The #BurpeeTruck made it into the Kansas City region on Friday night. It was time to prepare for our stop at Briarcliff Elementary in the morning. We made a pit stop at the Westlake Ace Hardware in Lenexa, Kansas. There we picked up 500 tomato plants to hand out in the morning. The tomato plants that we picked up consisted of the Mighty Sweet, Tasti-Lee, and Cherry Punch varieties. All of these are included in the BOOST Antioxidant Collection.
After loading up these healthy plants we had the chance to talk to some of the people at Westlake Ace Hardware and they recommended some things for us to check out while in Kansas City. Thanks for the tips! Then we headed back to the hotel where we noticed it was right across from the Kansas Speedway. If only we could find a way to get the Burpee Truck on the track! (You can bet we’re going to try before our next Grow Anywhere Tour stop in Des Moines!)
Even though we had already picked up the plants the night before, we still had an early morning ahead of us on Saturday. We had to pick up the fresh vegetables from Liberty Fruit Co. and be at Briarcliff by 9 a.m. to set up for the event that was promising to be a pretty big deal for the community. We were also a little concerned because it was raining and we didn’t know how that would affect the turnout. After picking up the produce we headed to the school and were met by some awesome volunteers! We had over 20 kids helping us bag produce and everyone was excited about the event. School officials were concerned by of the weather, but it never dampened their spirits!
Then 10 o’clock rolled around and boom! We were packed. There were hundreds of people in the school parking lot. We had no problem handing out all of the plants we had brought. It truly turned out to be an awesome event. Parents and organizers had planned various activities for kids to enjoy. Some children had the chance to make boot gardens (like the one in the picture above), and others got the opportunity to plant tomatoes in their school/community garden. The school’s free tomato plants were in the ground before we even pulled out of the driveway!
After the fab event at the school the Burpee truck wheeled back to Westlake Ace Hardware, had some lunch with the crew, and hung out for a little while. We helped answer questions about Burpee Home Gardens’ new Bumper Crop Grafted Tomatoes, and told shoppers all about the Grow Anywhere Tour and what fun we’ve had all spring.
All in all it was a great day and we had loads of fun. Thank you so much to everyone that helped out at the school, especially Steph and Alicia. Also a big thank-you goes to our friends over at Westlake Ace Hardware for joining us at the school event and helping us out during our visit!
Now on to Des Moines, Iowa, for the next event and a fresh load of happy gardeners!
Follow the truck as it travels the country this spring! Real-time updates on Twitter @BurpeeHG, #BurpeeTruck, #GrowAnywhereTour.