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09/27/2017 08:30 AMOn Sunday, Oct. 8, Paula Inglese will help set th stage -- and play the violin— for Gourds, Grapes & Gardens, the Branford Garden Club (BGC) festive fall fundraiser at the Blackstone Library.
“Every year we try to be creative and come up with some new ideas for our fall fundraiser,” says Paula, president of BGC. “We expect this will do really well and be well-received by the public.”
The fall festival takes place from 2 to 5 p.m. on Oct. 8 inside the Blackstone building (due to the Columbus Day holiday, the library will be closed). All food, beer, and wine are included in the ticket price of $25 per person. Tickets are available in advance at www.branfordgardenclub.org/specialevents. A limited number of tickets may also be available on the day of the event.
“It’s a fall festival that will be taking place in all of the rooms of the library’s main floor,” says Paula. “We’re going to offer music, elegant finger food, wine and beer, a raffle, and some really interesting fall garden-themed demonstrations.”
Think “flower designs inside gourds, monarch butterflies, and pickling” and you’ll begin to get a sense of what the creative folks at BGC have in store for the demos, says Paula. Speaking of creativity, Paula is loaning her talent, in more ways than one, to help make Gourds, Grapes & Gardens a success.
Paula has a particularly creative eye when it comes to what garden club members know as “creative staging.” In fact, she’s the staging chairman for the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut’s annual Connecticut Flower & Garden Show at Hartford’s Connecticut Convention Center, held in February each year.
“Creative staging is the look of the show—the props, the design. I work all year on it,” says Paula of her plans for the Hartford show.
She’s also proud to note that BGC, with some 130 members, is one of the biggest clubs belonging to Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut. Paula joined BGC as a member in 2010.
In addition to lending her expertise to staging Gourds, Grapes & Gardens, the day’s live music will be provided by none other than Paula’s own group, The Branford Slow Jammers, with Paula on violin (her husband, Glenn Seseke, is on accordion). Paula is excited to bring in this eclectic mix of instrumentalists—there’s even a bagpiper—to play on the Blackstone auditorium stage throughout the day.
“Live music really makes an event special, and playing with these musicians has made me a better musician,” says Paula, who picked up playing the violin again four years ago, after a nearly 30-year hiatus. “We have fun. We play Americana, we play show tunes, we play folk music. We started with Irish and Scottish music—sort of Irish fiddling stuff. Then I brought in show tunes—things like “Edelweiss” from The Sound of Music, which is a beautiful waltz.”
Speaking of waltzing, Paula and Glenn enjoy ballroom dancing, another talent Paula has in her background. She first learned the craft as a 21-year-old, when she landed a job in a dance studio. She was also a talented hair stylist and beautician, and by the age of 23, the Guilford native (Guilford High School Class of ’71) had moved to Branford and began working here. In 1979, Paula started her first salon, Hairitage, at 6 Short Beach Road. She eventually sold the business (to this day, a faithful following comes to her home), but kept the property until CVS/Pharmacy came knocking and bought the land.
While she’s enjoyed years of success as a business owner and developing and managing her real estate properties, Paula said the transaction allowed her to pick up where she’d left off with earlier pursuits in her life. She went back to ballroom dance, and to college, and then graduate school.
“Life has improved with age,” says Paula, who went back to school at age 48 and earned her B.S. in social work from New York University and her masters’ degree in social work from Fordham University.
At 50, she met her future husband. The couple married and moved into Paula’s beloved in-town Branford home, which she describes as a “Tudor Victorian,” complete with a gorgeous secret garden in the back.
“I’ve always loved living in the village,” says Paula. “It’s so convenient; it’s charming...it’s a beautiful little oasis in the center of town.”
What many residents may not realize is that all-volunteer, non-profit BGC beautifies many areas of Branford, including Main Street’s hanging baskets, the flowers around the flagpole on the Town Green, beautiful daffodil displays, and much more. BGC also puts on an educational flower show every four years (the next arrives in 2018) and provides holiday wreaths and/or seasonal floral decorations for buildings including the Blackstone Library and Town Hall, as well as Community Dining Room. Proceeds from “Gourds, Grapes & Gardens” will help BGC continue its efforts.
“This supports all of our town beautification projects,” says Paula. “Just about everything that’s beautiful in Branford, the Branford Garden Club does. We have all kinds of committees working on projects and efforts. We put on Scarecrows on the Green each year, which is a fundraiser that brings the community together. People love it.”
As for Paula, giving back to Branford is a joy, and something to which she feels deeply committed, in part due to her faith, she says.
“I have a strong faith in God, and because God has blessed me so much in my life, I just feel I have to thank Him for that and give back,” says Paula.
Branford Garden Club presents Gourds, Grapes & Gardens on Sunday, Oct. 8, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Blackstone Memorial Library, 758 Main Street. Tickets, $25, may be purchased in advance at www.branfordgardenclub.org/specialevents. For more information, call 203-488-0401.