By Karen Parr-Moody
PLEASANT VIEW, Tenn. – The Pleasant View Nursery and Florist is hosting a bonanza of fun for children this Saturday, Sept. 27, with its Fall Fest.
From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. it is providing – free of charge – bouncy houses, pumpkin-painting activities, hotdogs, popcorn, snow cones, face painting and more. Children are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes if they would like to do so.
The nursery sells farm-fresh butter, eggs and JD Country Milk, along with Yankee Candles, mums, pansies, produce (including some organic) and other plants. So while the children are having fun, the adults can fill their shopping baskets.
Additionally, photographer Christy Hunter will take family photos among the fall decorations (see her work at www.christyhunterphotography.com). She will charge a $5 fee per shot and customers will later receive, via email, an edited digital copy that they can print themselves.
“It’s a chance to get to get a cute picture against a fall background for really cheap,” Hunter says.
A variety of gourds are ready for fall vignettes and crafts./Karen Parr-Moody
The nursery is located at 7070 Highway 41-A in Pleasant View; it is a 15-minute drive from the Sango area of Clarksville.
This is the third year that the nursery has produced a Fall Fest. Candy Kizer, who co-owns the nursery with her daughter Christina Kizer, loves to bring the spirit of fall fun to children. She also hopes that in bringing them to the nursery, she is educating them about much more.
Born into a family of farmers, Kizer thinks that it is “really good for the average child to grow his or her own food.” But, at the very least, she would like for more children to understand food production – in other words, the reality that food doesn’t simply come from the grocery store.
When interacting with children during these festivals, Kizer blends in some education with the fun. She says that during the pumpkin-painting contest she asks, “Does anyone know where and how pumpkins grow?”
Kizer has learned the intricacies of growing vegetable crops organically. It would be ideal, she thinks, if children could learn more about gardening, either organically or conventionally. She says children can easily learn such practices as starting seedlings from seed or using cuttings from woody plants to create new ones.
“I would love to do more children’s teaching here,” she says.
For more information about the Fall Fest or the Pleasant View Nursery and Florist, call them at 615-247-8527.
Photos by Karen Parr-Moody
Karen Parr-Moody began a career as a New York journalist, working as a fashion reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, a beauty editor for Young Miss and a beauty and fashion writer for both In Style and People magazines. Regionally, she has been a writer at The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper and currently writes about arts and culture for Nashville Arts magazine each month.