WoodmenLife will unveil its Community Orchard in a ribbon-cutting Saturday at its lodge, the culmination of a project that was begun in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic lockdown.
The ceremony will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the lodge, 414 E. Mountain Drive.
The public is invited, and refreshments will be served after the ceremony.
A second ceremony from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday will break ground for a memorial stone honoring a local fallen soldier.
Members of the board of WoodmenLife, a nonprofit insurance company and fraternal organization, will speak about the orchard as well as the orchardist who led the project, Nathan Crew of Crew Family Enterprises.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the WoodmenLife Lodge operated a pool that was open to member families and guests, according to an email from Pamela Patterson, a WoodmenLife member. The pool was closed at the height of the pandemic to conform with government restrictions on public gatherings.
When restrictions were lifted, the board was told that costly repairs would be needed to reopen the pool. The board voted to permanently close the pool and convert the property for the Community Orchard, Patterson wrote in the email.
Upon completion, the orchard will include trees and other plants that produce more than 140 species of fruit. Plans include a walking trail, resting benches, running waterfall and pond, and picnic tables.
Mature olive trees will be planted at the center of the orchard.
“All the fruit, nut and ornamentals have been planted and grown organically, too,” Patterson said in her email.
Nate Crew and his wife, Amanda, have led the development of the orchard, Patterson said. Both are Army veterans and owners of Crew Family Orchards, where they grow olives to produce organic olive oil.
The Crews also have involved their two sons, Jackson and Willy, in the project.
“Their business is not just a business for them; it is therapy, it is passion and love for nature without the thousands of distractions that most people have to juggle with day in and day out because we choose to live that way,” Patterson’s email said.
