Area residents are invited to join Lander University faculty, staff, students and alumni for Lander Bearcat Topiary Team Fan Day on Thursday, June 7, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The event will be held in Uptown Greenwood, between Countybank and the former Inn on the Square, and will feature music, games, face-painting, tattooing and other activities for children, as well as door prizes and refreshments. Youngsters can have their photos taken with the official Lander Bearcat mascot, and participants can meet with Lander athletes, cheerleaders, coaches and administrators, including Lander President Dr. Daniel Ball.
Overseeing the celebration, part of the 45th annual Festival of Flowers, will be the 11-foot-tall Lander Bearcat topiary, an amalgam of Sedum Angelina, Ageratum, Lysimachia, or "Creeping Jenny," Portulaca and natural lichen, plugged into a metal frame stuffed with Angel Moss from New Zealand and kept moist by an interior irrigation system.
It will be the third year that the Bearcat topiary has been part of the Festival of Flowers' topiary display, and a recent replugging of the Bearcat by Lander alumni and students has him looking as good as ever, according to Lander assistant alumni director Debbie Dill.
"He will be rolling into the Uptown along with all the other topiaries right after Memorial Day," said Dill, who coordinated the university's volunteer effort to prepare the topiary for display.
She called Lander Bearcat Topiary Team Fan Day "a fun event to celebrate all things Lander," and added, "our faculty and staff have just as much fun putting it on as those who come from the community." She emphasized that the event is free and open to the public.
For information on Lander Bearcat Topiary Team Fan Day, call 864-388-8351 or visit the university's website at www.lander.edu. Information on the S.C. Festival of Flowers is available at www.scfestivalofflowers.org.