Mead breaks ground on FYSO music venue

Umbrellas and music-note-decorated gold shovels in hand, representatives from Mead Botanical Garden, the Florida Youth Symphony Orchestra and the city of Winter Park broke ground Monday on Mead’s outdoor concert pavilion.

The Grove at Mead Botanical Garden, which will serve as a home-base performance venue for the Florida Youth Symphony Orchestra (FYSO), began construction Aug. 27 and should be completed in November. It will be located between the Lake Lillian wetlands and the environmental learning center. An anonymous donor through the FYSO funded half of the project’s $500,000 price tag.

FYSO Executive Director Heide Evans Waldron says the 40-foot by 60-foot concrete venue, planned since 2010, will serve not only as a music performance hub for Winter Park and the 250 youths involved in FYSO programs, but as another step toward the continual restoration efforts at Mead Garden.

“I think it brings a great cultural center to Winter Park in regards to music in a really beautiful space that we hope to help continuing to restore,” she said. She and the FYSO musicians are excited for their first performance scheduled for the new venue on Dec. 9.

The first performance at The Grove at Mead Botanical Gardens by the Florida Youth Symphony Orchestra is scheduled for Dec. 9. Construction of the stage should be complete in November. To learn more about the FYSO and its programs and concert events, visit fsyo.org. For more information about continuing restoration efforts at Mead Botanical Garden, including the construction of the Grove performing arts venue, visit meadgarden.org

Mock-ups of the venue show a watercolor vision of staging blended into lush landscaping, a far cry from what Mead Executive Director Cynthia Hasenau says this area of the gardens held for much of its recent history.

The land the Grove will be built on, she said, was used for many years as a dumping ground for the city. Restoring this reclaimed land, along with the wetlands bordering the area, is an ongoing process to bring the gardens back to their natural beauty.

“It’s putting this reclaimed land to good use,” Hasenau said.

The city is getting in on the Grove project too, with Mayor Ken Bradley speaking at the groundbreaking, and John Holland, director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, serving as a liaison between the city and Mead as the project continues.

“I think everyone, the whole community, is really excited that things are finally getting started,” Waldron said.