Every blogger who attended Austin Garden Bloggers Fling this year received a 10th anniversary commemorative booklet. Conceived by Diana Kirby as a scrapbook-style souvenir book packed with photos and an evocative summary about each year's Fling, it showcases the bloggers and the gardens we've seen during 11 years of Flinging, from Austin in 2008 to the Capital Region in 2017. We hope you delight as much in the memories as we do!
For those who weren't able to attend this year, we're pleased to be able to share the souvenir booklet online as a pdf, which you're welcome to download for your own keepsake.
Here is the booklet's introduction, commemorating a decade of fun at Garden Bloggers Fling:
Garden Bloggers Fling has been bringing bloggers together since 2008, attracting garden lovers from across North America and Europe. But how is it that we've come to "Fling," meeting up for 3-1/2 days of garden touring, socializing, and networking in a new city every year for 10 years?
It began in April 2008 in Austin, where local bloggers met regularly to get to know each other beyond the anonymity of the internet. One of the bloggers, Pam Penick of Digging, got the crazy idea to invite all garden bloggers to Austin for a "Spring Fling" - a day to visit gardens, socialize, and talk about blogging. She and 3 other Austin bloggers began planning, and the Fling was born.
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| A sample page from the souvenir booklet |
But would anybody come? Flying to a city where you knew someone only through their blog required a leap of faith. Remarkably, people leaped! That first Fling had 37 garden bloggers from 12 U.S. states. It was a hit!
Since then, the Fling has blossomed into a 3-1/2-day annual event that brings 75-100 bloggers together in a different city each year to enjoy private and public gardens, nursery shopping, an opening reception and banquet dinner, swag bags and raffle prizes given by generous sponsors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to meet fellow garden lovers who share that passion through blogging. Although we may hail from vastly different growing zones and have diverse gardening interests, the Fling brings us together.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Garden Bloggers Fling, and so it seems fitting to return to Austin, where it all began, to "Fling" once again. This anniversary souvenir booklet celebrates our one-of-a-kind event and the many fond memories and lasting friendships made across 10 years of the Fling.