Peace, love, and music at Mead Garden's Woodstock Winter Park — A Groovy Garden Affair fundraiser

If you’re going to Mead Garden on Saturday, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair — and don’t worry, you’ll meet some gentle people there.

Hosted by Mead Botanical Garden, Woodstock Winter Park — A Groovy Garden Affair will take visitors back to the days of peace, love, and classic tunes that filled the air back in 1969. 

“We were wanting to do more things on that outside stage,” said Linda Keen, one of the key volunteers at the Garden. “It was the anniversary for Woodstock, and we thought from the demographic we have here in the community, it would be something that was appealing.”

Keen said those at Mead have been looking to get more use out of the Grove Stage & Lawn are in the Garden — which seats exactly 800 visitors — and they knew specifically that they wanted to do something related to music.

Despite not knowing how exactly to go about it and unsure of how it would go, the reaction by local bands has been enormous, she said. 

“I’ve never been called by so many bands in my life,” Keen said, laughing. “And I still get an odd email from somebody saying they want to play — there must be a keyword out there for Woodstock that everybody keys on.”

Mead will be jam-packed with musical talent — 29 sets, all of which will reflect the music that made the Summer of ’69 one of the most important moments in music history.

“It’s the music of 1969 — it’s designed to give you the feel and the emotions of that time,” Keen said.

Mead is working in partnership with the Central Florida Community Arts, a nonprofit that works to bring the arts to everyone in the community, which will be producing the show after six months of rehearsals.

Before the concert begins, Mead will kick off the casual part of the night’s fundraiser with a dinner and cocktails in the Legacy Garden, before the concert starts up around 8:15 p.m.

To go along with the ’60s theme, vintage cars will be placed around the gardens. Keen and those at Mead are also asking folks to come out dressed in their best and hippest hippy outfits to help add to the spirit of the fundraiser.

The event has been in the works for some time now — more than a year — and was actually planned for the fall — that was until Hurricane Irma drove through the state and forced Mead to reschedule.

Despite the delay, there has been no hampered spirits for those at Mead.

Keen said she and the other 90 volunteers are excited about the festivities Saturday, and hope to see people come out and not only support the nonprofit Gardens, but to also enjoy themselves.

“Come and have fun,” Keen said. “Our community is a funny little community — they love to dress up and ‘spoof,’ and see and be seen, and this does exactly that.”