The Boulevard Neighborhood Association will celebrate its 30th anniversary Saturday with a Boulevard Spring Garden Tour on East Third Avenue.
The four-hour walking tour will feature seven gardens and will run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., said Karen Anesi, an association board member.
“It’s the second garden tour we’ve had. We had one in the fall, very late in the year,” Anesi said. The event aims to highlight the hard work of gardeners throughout the neighborhood, the unique fauna and overall character of historic East Third Avenue, she said. “It’s a feel-good kind of thing to bring people to our houses,” she said.
According to a release, the neighborhood association is “committed to preserving, protecting and stabilizing the residential character,” of East Third Avenue, which is included on the National Register of Historic Places.
Designation in the register signifies the “formal recognition of a property’s historical, architectural or archeological significance,” according to the National Park Service website, but does not place preservation obligations on property owners.
East Third Avenue between Second and 15th streets is designated as a Historic Residential District on the National Register of Historic Places because of its place in the community and the significance of the late Victorian-era revival architecture, according to the NPS website.
The historical significance of East Third Avenue and the structures along it are important to members of the neighborhood association, said Barbara Edidin, an association member.“You have to think of yourself as a custodian; it’s a community trust in a way,” Edidin said.
The responsibility plays a role in planning renovations and modifications to the architecture, and helps develop a strong sense of connection to the community of Durango, she said. And that’s what those involved in the garden tour hope to share with visitors Saturday, Anesi said.
“The vast majority of people who have their gardens on the garden tour are real gardeners, and they take pride in it, and they want to share it with others, so people can see why we protect this,” she said.
Edidin’s garden will be one of those featured during Saturday’s walking tour, and it is billed as “an old-fashioned white picket fence garden,” according to the tickets for the event. Tickets are $20 in advance from neighborhood association board members or at the Rochester Hotel, with a limited number available the day of the event, Anesi said.
“We’re trying to have the public know they can get tickets,” she said. “Some people thought our fall tour was a private tour.”
For tickets, neighborhood association board members can be found at bnadurango.org/contact_us.
Luke Perkins is a Fort Lewis College student and an intern for the Herald. Reach him a lukep@durangoherald.com.
This article has been updated to correct the extent of the area designated an Historic Residential District, which runs along East Third Avenue from Second Street to 15th Street and includes the commercial corridor at College Drive.
