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FORWARD FOCUSED

The enduring spirit of Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park has never been more poignant than over the last year. While the world around us continues to brave a pandemic, we remain a beacon of beauty, hope and fellowship. We will always be a place to find a little joy, even in uncertain times. With this in mind, we forged ahead with the soft opening of our new Welcome Center on January 11, 2021. We marked this milestone with a safe, physically distanced ceremony. I was honored to cut the ribbon and represent the thousands of people who made this historic event possible. While it would have been much more enjoyable to celebrate with our diverse community, I was proud to report that, despite the challenges presented by the global pandemic, we opened on time and in budget. Our new Welcome Center was designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, architects renowned worldwide for their masterful work. Their considerable talents have shaped the campus of Meijer Gardens in many ways. Let me highlight a few. Landscape is critical to the botanic garden and sculpture park experience. The new Welcome Center is made up of walls, which are now a part of the landscape of Meijer Gardens. These walls come from the land itself, constructed from granite quarried from Echo Lake, Minnesota and designed to complement our natural landscape. They add to the beauty of the Meijer Gardens experience—when you visit, note how the walls change in color with the light and season. The architectural aesthetic of the new Welcome Center also complements our existing building, making it even more striking. Massive picture windows inside the new Peter C. & Emajean Cook Entryway frame a stunning view of the Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory. The interplay of natural light and shadows within the entirety of the Welcome Center enhances its beauty while creating a sense of intimacy in the generous space. Thanks to the natural rotation of the earth around the sun, light enters in slightly different ways to work with the architecture, sculpture and horticulture and create places of beauty. All areas of the Welcome Center open to the public have natural light. We refer to the Welcome Center opening as soft because the Garden Pavilion, which will contain the magnificent Utopia by Juame Plensa, is yet to be revealed. While it was always our intention to open this space later, the closure of international seaports during the pandemic delayed shipment of Utopia and the opening of the Garden Pavilion until late 2021. I promise it will be worth the wait. As we focus forward, we remain steadfast to our promise to be always growing, always beautiful and always new. We’ve begun construction of the Tassell-Wisner-Bottrall English Perennial Garden, designed by Julie Moir Messervy, the expansion of the BISSELL Corridor and the renovation and expansion of our sculpture galleries. We’re continuing the work we started last fall on the expanded and redesigned Volunteer Tribute Garden, too. Over the last 25 years, you have far exceeded our expectations. Our membership and attendance continue to grow, inspiring us to innovate our spaces. The generosity of our members; Fred and Lena Meijer; the extended Meijer Family; and the hundreds of donors who supported the new Welcome Center makes it possible. We are ever thankful, and we celebrate every milestone with you. We look forward to welcoming you, this season especially. It’s such an exciting time.

Gratefully,

David S. Hooker

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