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Rainbow Garden Club
Great Falls

President: Colleen Holzheimer
Vice-President: Lucille Johnson

We meet the second Thursday of the month at 12:30 PM for a luncheon meeting at Colleen's Restaurant. If you are interested in visiting one of our programs or becoming a part of our group, please contact our membership chairman, Gail Ridge. You will be most welcome!

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Loretta Day, pictured above with her husband, Poco, was named Garden Club Member of the Year 2007 at the MFGC Convention in Malta. She joined Rainbow Garden Club in 1958 and has been active ever since. She is also a Life Member of MFGC and has held many offices in her local club, serving as President twice. Loretta volunteers for any project and chairmanship on the local, state or national level and carries through to the best of her ability. She's been Arbor Day chairman of Rainbow for the past several years and always helps plant flowers and bushs at the courthouse, Gibson monument, and the Deaf and Blind school. She helped with the Junior Garden Club for years, helped with restoring the C. M. Russell home and helped with every major Rainbow activity through the years. "Just ask Loretta, she'll do it." And she did and still is doing it!

When she is not working on garden club projects, she participates in a large number of community activities. She worked for 43 years with her late husband in his Veterinary Clinic and raised 6 children. She is an active member of the Montana Cowgirls Association and was inducted ino their historical Hall of Fame in 2004. She sings in her church choir, is a member of the Cascade Preservation Association, and is an avid supporter of the C. M. Russell auction every year.

She is an accomplished flower arranger and won blue ribbons since her first flower show, evidenced by a wall of blue ribbons and Best of Show awards from State Fair and flower shows. She encouraged her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to appreciate the beauty found at their feet. She then helped them arrange flowers gathered from the garden, field or meadow. They won blue ribbons at the Fair and flower shows, too. She taught arrangement classes to Rainbow members and is happy to share her expertise with them - a great encourager to all. She raises many houseplants and uses them in her designs when appropriate.

Loretta has always been able to "bloom where she is planted." Consequently, the world is her garden. She is never content just sitting on the sidelines watching the game called life. Instead she plays whatever position God assigns her to the best of her ability.

"Celebrating 50 Years"

Rainbow Garden Club held its first meeting in December of 1956 at the Meadowlark Country Club in Great Falls. There were over 100 ladies attending. Geneva Collins presided. The Club meets monthly, except for the months of July and August ever since; and celebrated its 50th Anniversary at the December 2006 meeting with a party and invited all past presidents and guests. Forty-six members and 9 guests attended, which included 2 charter members and 11 past presidents.

Some of the Club highlights over the 50 years include --

• Preservation of the historical Charlie Russell home as a Montana Federation of Garden Clubs' statewide historical project. The home stands on the grounds of the nationally acclaimed Charles Russell Art Museum.
• Dinner dances held from 1957 through 1979, most were held at the Country Club and the Officers Club at Malmstrom Air Force Base
• The first flower show in 1961 - and in 1965, the flower show received a National Award
• A project at the Montana School for the Deaf and the Blind includes a Braille trail of trees. Started in 1966, a tree was planted for each graduating class. The Club now plants and maintains a Sensory Garden with help from the students.
• Early members planted the Fairgrounds' entrance with 1500 marigolds, 100 dahlias and 25 cedars, plus flowers in front of the Fine Arts Building.
• 2000 petunias were planted around the courthouse and the old jail in 1980. Members still plant around the courthouse. The past few years we planted 1500 petunias annually, but now we are designing with more perennials.
• Easter Bonnet parades, where members made their own hats

Each Fall Rainbow Garden Club presents a style show as a fundraiser to support a scholarship for a Montana State University student studying horticulture and related fields. The shows started in April 1960 with Club members modeling clothing from The Paris of Montana. Later, other stores were invited to participate and now several local merchants and one out-of-town store participates, furnishing their own models.

Other projects include annually planting a tree on the bank of the Missouri River at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. In April the Club planted a tree at Benefis East Campus and dedicated it to the Mercy Flight Crew who lost their lives while in the process of saving others. We also hold a Standard Flower Show each year, in conjunction with Great Falls Flower Growers. The Show is open for public entries in horticulture and floral design.

As part of our monthly meetings, our programs include flower design, gardening, bird preservation, conservation and horticulture. Rainbow Garden Club welcomes guests to the monthly meetings and programs and are always encouraging new members to join us.