Oxford Garden Club celebrates 70 years of community service, beautification

The Oxford Garden Club’s work is easy to spot across Oxford: wreaths around the courthouse, litter pickup along neighborhood routes, monthly Garden Therapy at The Pinnacle, and a push to help add a fountain at Lamar Park. Those projects, along with boutonnières and corsages for Night to Shine, helped define a 70th anniversary year that was marked not by ceremony alone but by the club’s daily presence in Lafayette County civic life.

The club celebrated its 70th anniversary at its May meeting with cake and balloons, but the bigger story was the scope of its service. Its 16 local projects brought home first-place ribbons at the district, state and Deep South levels, a sign that the group’s volunteer work has remained both organized and visible. From Memorial Garden and Arbor Day plantings to youth bird-awareness work under the Carrie Avent Bird Award, the club’s efforts reached parks, schools, senior programs and public spaces that Oxford residents use all year.

Dotsy Fitts, who joined the club 44 years ago, helped connect the milestone to the organization’s earlier era. She remembered a time when the club placed more emphasis on formal teas and annual daffodil flower show receptions, a reminder that the rituals have changed even as the mission has stayed rooted in beautification and service. Reneé Flynt, the club president, highlighted the club’s practical approach to community work and the breadth of projects that kept members busy throughout the year.

The anniversary also pointed ahead. The club listed its 2026-2027 officers as Reneé Flynt, Susan Marascalco, Shelia Roberts, Christy Knapp, Marijean Howell, Patricia Weathersby, Cindy Kirk and Dotsy Fitts, underscoring that this is an active organization with plans already in motion for another year of work. Its public profile has remained strong as well: the flower show “Round About Oxford” was scheduled for March 26, 2026, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Oxford Conference Center and was free and open to the public.

That standing has been reinforced beyond Oxford as well. Garden Clubs of Mississippi named the Oxford Garden Club first place for Garden Club of the Year in the Tombigbee Valley District for 2024-2025. Deep South Garden Clubs also places annual award submissions on a tight schedule, with entries due by Feb. 15 for inclusion in its convention awards book, a deadline that helps explain the club’s steady stream of ribbon-winning work.