“Treasure Island”, the 1400 square foot Michael Golas Landscape Design display at the Hall of Flowers is under construction inside the Sonoma County Fairgrounds Wednesday July 27, 2022. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)

Take a trip to Fantasy Island in the Hall of Flowers at the Sonoma County Fair

MEG MCCONAHEY

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

July 29, 2022

It’s been three years since the competitive theme gardeners who live for the thrill of transforming a former airline hangar into a floral wonderland every summer have been able to practice their strange, magical hobby.

For two seasons, COVID-19 shut down the Hall of Flowers, the largest themed flower show west of the Mississippi and an undisputed highlight of the Sonoma County Fair for generations.

It was a big disappointment for fair regulars but even more so for the competitors — both amateur and professional — who spend months planning and then amassing flowers, trees, plants and elaborate props for floral vignettes sure to transport Hall visitors to other worlds.

This year, pandemic-weary fairgoers desperate to start traveling again can take an around-the-world trip to more than a dozen “Islands of Adventure” inspired by TV and movies — no passport necessary.

Stops include Treasure Island, Pirates of the Caribbean, Isla Nublar from “Jurassic Park” and Neverland from “Peter Pan.” Only people of a certain age might recognize “Gilligan’s Island,” inspired by the mid-60s sitcom, and “Fantasy Island,” complete with arriving seaplane, inspired by the 1970s show of the same name.

Dayna Justus, a veteran professional competitor who started out years ago as an amateur competitor, is again teaming up with her brother, Shawn Husar of Sebastopol. For their 1,200-square-foot garden, Husar, an HVAC installer by day, has been working in his off-hours in the hall to build a realistic shipwreck inspired by something he once saw at Disneyworld.

The whole family pitches in. Justus’ husband, Alex, takes care of the special effects, and sons Alex, 17, and John, 12, are part of the crew, too. Husar’s wife, Emily, and daughter Jasmine, 14, and even grandma, Arley Nelson, as well as family friends, are all part of the team. The family has collaborated on two gardens in the past, but it’s taken all their energy and resources to pull off this year’s entry.

“We’re just trying to get through this one,” said Justus, laughing, her arms caked with dirt. “Two years off is a long time, and I feel like I have a lot of extra COVID weight.”

The extended clan has been putting in eight- to 10-hour days in the hall, and when they’re not in the hall, they’re gathering plants in what they describe as a scavenger hunt, from their own yards and other sources. They have what amount to their own home nurseries just for the fair. The kids also make junior gardens.

“It feels so good being back,” Justus said. “Last year was depressing. That’s all I can say. But I’m glad we’re moving forward and hope we never do anything like that again. It wasn’t right for the kids.”

For Greg Duncan, the creative director of the Hall of Flowers since 1994, returning after so long to the empty, 27,000-square-foot former airplane hanger three months ago proved daunting. He had spent the last three years working on his own garden, canning and “learning how to make sourdough like everyone else.”

Now he had to transform the old Quonset hut that has been home to the Hall of Flowers since 1949 into “A Tropical Paradise.”

“I came into this big, empty building again and thought, ‘What am I going to do with this?’ But within about a week, I fell into a rhythm,” said Duncan, 73.

Just before the pandemic hit, he had closed his longtime design business that specialized in designing and fabricating themed environments for amusement parks, stores and specialty museums. His work has appeared at Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, The Haunted Castle at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and a wax museum in Hawaii. He received an Emmy Award for his work on PBS’ “Dr. Science’s National Science Test.”

Duncan has a smaller crew this year to transform the hall, but three stalwarts returned to help him move dirt, build props, paint murals and create the water features that dazzle fairgoers.

“We just went for it, and we’ve had a good time doing it. I’ve been getting my steps in every day. I don’t have to go to the gym or anything. So I feel pretty darn good,” Duncan said in the days leading up to the final crunch, when exhibitors work around the clock installing their gardens and making sure everything is perfect before Wednesday’s Hall of Flowers Preview Party.

This weekend is a mad dash to the finish. When the clock strikes midnight Monday evening, everything must be done, no exceptions.

Smoke and mirrors

Like a movie set, the Hall is an exercise in illusion.

The centerpiece of all 15,000 square feet of gardens this year is a 16-foot rock as wide as a sequoia that looms from a pool filled with flowering plants and surrounded by palms. Perched atop are two 8- and 10-foot Tiki heads that look like they could have been retrieved from a South Pacific ruin.

The heads were made by Fred Nocella and Jason Todd, who also contributed a Tiki collection for display. From the outside, the rock looks real. Inside, it’s a confection of scaffolding, wood, chicken wire and burlap, the ingredients for so much of what goes into the non-flower material inside the hall.

Perched along one wall is a massive, forbidding 500-pound skull that spits water over what will be Treasure Island. Mark Jackson of Sebastopol made the prop, which will be for sale along with many other props and plants from the hall right after the fair closes the evening of Aug. 14 and again on Aug. 15.

Duncan and exhibitors are used to scrounging, reusing materials and recycling props from previous years to keep costs down. Even the 20,000 yards of soil it takes to fill the hall are stored on the fairgrounds and hauled in and out just for the show.

But with inflation pushing up the cost of nearly everything, from plants to construction materials, preparing the Hall of Flowers was an even bigger challenge this year than usual. Duncan’s budget of “$200,000 and change” hasn’t risen in a years. So this year he opted to build fewer wood props, although there will be a tiki bar with a sand floor where people can cool down with tropical drinks.

As the cost of plants has increased and many of the county’s longtime nurseries have closed, the number of both professional and amateur garden designers has dwindled. This year, there are nine entries in the professional category, down from a dozen when Duncan started as an assistant to the previous Hall designer Jackie Giuffre back in the 1980s. Veteran competitor Dan Pozzi had to drop out at the last minute because he got a large contracting job.

There have been a few changes in response to the ongoing drought and a push throughout the North Bay over the past decade to get people to convert their gardens to low-water-use plants, such as natives.

The Sonoma Marin Saving Water Partnership is sponsoring a $1,000 award for the Best Waterwise Garden. They’ve added awards for the best use of succulents, the best use of perennials and the best use of nonblooming color, and they’ve eliminated awards for the best use of hydrangeas, which use a lot of water.

But Duncan stressed that this is still a flower show. That means each garden must have 40% color.

“It is still a fantasy show,” he said. “It’s not going to be a Xeriscape (low- or no-irrigation gardening) thing, or it’s going to be boring.”

To keep the Hall filled with flowers, Duncan has moved the amateur garden competitors from the courtyard to a space along one wall inside. And some of the garden sizes have grown.

In it to win it

This is the 10th year friends and neighbors Kellie Castrillo and Pam Hansen of Santa Rosa have teamed up to build an amateur garden. Six of those years, they took home the Best in Show award among amateur gardens.

Castrillo minced no words: She’s in it to win it.

Still, there is an underlying camaraderie in the hall, with competitors sharing equipment and sometimes manpower. Justus had just lent Castrillo a wheelbarrow.

“We all help each other. We want the best for everyone,” Justus said, adding with a grin, “even though I like winning.”

Beside her, Hansen busily snipped the brown edges of begonia leaves so everything looks fresh and perfect in their Tahitian paradise garden, complete with a dockside glamping hut.

Filling up the courtyard with the junior competitors also was a challenge. There are only eight this year, down from a high of 14 in earlier years.

“Two to three dropped out because they didn’t think they could afford it,” Duncan said.

But there will be other attractions just outside the hall for garden geeks. Kendall-Jackson is setting up a Wine Garden and the Sonoma County Beekeepers will have an exhibit. Sonoma Clean Power, which is promoting the use of electrical power tools over gas-operated tools, also will have an exhibit.

Duncan is optimistic that one of the fair’s top attractions will gain even more participation next year.

“Once people see the gardens are up and looking good and we have a successful show, we’ll be able to attract more next year,” he said. “I’m hoping to get new blood.”

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at 707-521-5204 or meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com. OnTwitter @megmcconahey.

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