June 5, 2025 • 8 mins
It's Time for the 56th Annual Munroe-Meyer Guild Garden Walk in Omaha!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today it's World Environment Day. My environment is my backyard,
it's my house. It's the things that are happening around
my house. One other thing that it could be is
you're noticing the birds, You're noticing the bees, You're noticing
any little wildlife that you might have around your yard.
And one thing that can be an absolute asset to
you is if you have a garden. Well, when you
(00:20):
have a garden, I can tell from experience with my wife,
you want to see some of the most beautiful gardens
that are available to be seen. And an amazing way
that you can do that is the fifty sixth annual
Monroe Meyer Guild Garden Walk. Joining me in the studio
to talk about that is my friend Luanne Rabie.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Luayanne, thanks for being on the show today, Thanks for
having me and for promoting the Monroe Meyer Guild Garden Walk.
It is the largest garden walk here in Omaha because
we have over a thousand people come, many repeat people
that come every year from Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas. This is
the garden walk.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
That's so great and this is really cool. I'm going
to have tickets to give away at the end of
the interview, so you're going to stick around for that
and I will give that away. Let's talk about it's
fifty six to annual. It means that there's a really
strong tradition built up. What is the history of this
and why has it been able to last so long.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, there's just a bunch of women that put it
on every year. And it started fifty six years ago
with just some doctors and that from the Meyer Institute.
It was a polio rehab institute. And this is a
little fundraiser they put together of doctors and famous people
here in Omaha. It has morphed into having over a
(01:32):
thousand people come. We choose six five to six private gardens,
different gardens every year, so you don't see repeat gardens,
and we find homeowners that will open up their homes
and make their gardens pristine. Our gardens this year are
so diverse. We have a professional garden. We have one.
(01:54):
Three of them were done by the homeowners. One is
the try Faith Orchard and Garden. They have a community
garden there so you see these unusual lettuce and karabi
and all those things. And then we have vendors there
and the gardens are just superb because of the weather
right now, it's we have sun, we have rain, they are.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Lush, it's perfect time to see. This is going to
be on Sunday, nine am to four pm. A lot
of different things that are going to be available for
this group. And it's not just the gardens that people
could be looking for here. I know the first thing
that I saw is some classic cars, some artists and
local vendors going to be a part of this. So
how does this EVNT kind of work? I know that
people buy tickets, do they just kind of show up
(02:37):
to any of these six gardens? How does it work
for them?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
They do? It's a self guided tour. You start whenever
you want to start, you end when you want to end.
You start at whichever garden you want to. If you
don't make them all, you don't make them all self guided.
But there will be a guild member at every house
directing you. We also have master gardeners at every house
so you can talk to them. And the classic cars
(03:00):
they will change one in the morning, one in the
afternoon in each different driveway. The vendors, there's over twenty vendors.
We have garden art, we have wind chimes, we have
stained glass, we have food. We have a coffee truck
in the morning from eight thirty to twelve thirty that
has hot and cold coffee.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Just so many things to look at and do.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
This's going to be a lot of fun. We are
speaking with Leuyn Raybe the Monroe Meyer Garden Guild Walk
or Guild Garden Walk. Sorry, my gee's got mixed up there.
Fifty six annual So this tells you a lot about
how you know, important this has been for people to
keep doing this. And the added element is that the
money that is raised isn't just pocketed by the people
(03:44):
who have the gardens. This goes to a really good cause.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
The people that the homeowners get nothing for it. They're
doing it out out of their love for gardening. But
we will profit about thirty thousand dollars and one hundred
percent of the ticket sales goes to Monroe Meyer Institute.
And what we do is we give scholarships to Camp
Monroe for summer camps that the kids come they love it,
(04:09):
and then we select different grants. The staff will submit ideas, innovative,
new ideas for project equipments. Some of the things that
we've given money to is virtual reality for children with
cerebral palsy, specialized therapy for children on the autism spector spectrum,
(04:30):
job training programs for young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Also,
we have the finest feeding clinic and most intensive feeding clinic.
There are people from Tennessee, from Colorado that come for
these low kids that cannot eat anything, and with intensive
training they learn how to swallow and eat regular food.
(04:53):
We have given money from the garden Walk to give
to attach electrodes so that the staff can see e
exactly if their tongue is not working on one side
or the other side. It's so precise now.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It's unbelievable. And this is the kind of thing that
the funds for this garden walk. You get to enjoy
seeing the garden, You get inspired by what you're seeing,
a lot of different fun stuff, really cool day to
be a part of. But you know the money is
going into such an incredible cause. So what can people
do to learn more? What is the more information they
can learn and then also be able to buy their tickets.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
We have tickets at High v We also have them
at many of the nurseries, but you can go online
and order them and That website is go dot UNMC
dot edu slash garden Walk. If you can't make it
that day, there's a button there that you can donate
to this great cause, so you can go there, order
(05:49):
your tickets online, and pick them up at one of
the gardens.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I'm gonna go ahead and I'm going to do something
live here. I'm gonna just look up Omaha garden Walk. Also,
first thing that pops up fifty sixty annual Woman Monroe
Meyer Guild garden Walk, and the visit Omaha page about
this as well, and the Facebook page about this. So
the first three things when you say Omaha garden Walk,
it's going to pop right up for you. And so
(06:14):
if you can't remember the website, you're just like, oh,
what was the name of that garden walk? Omaha garden Walk.
First thing that pops up there? Is it incredibly affordable
and with the cause that you know, like it provides. Plus,
I mean, how often you're gonna get a chance to
see gardens like this? How much time do you think?
I know, it's open nine am to four pm, but
if somebody's trying to, you know, kind of see all
six gardens, how quickly you think they could be able
(06:36):
to do that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
It'll take about three hours, okay, yeah, and that's because
we just did it with the homeowners last Sunday and
it was two and a half hours and we were
just giving about ten fifteen minutes per garden. And that's
not any vendors or anything.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Right, little shopping aspects. So you could make a full
day out of this if you can.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Some people come in the morning, they go out to lunch,
and they finish up in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
That is so cool. And like you said, I mean,
there's no requirement. I mean, honestly, if you can start
wherever you want, you can end wherever you want. I
know that you don't want to play favorites, but where
would be the best part to start? Like, which spot
do you think would be the best spot? You have
to see this. If you're doing the Monroe Meyer Guild
Garden Walk.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
That would be the one on seventy ninth Street. That
one is all set up. They structured from a Nantucket
type garden and their house is even Nantucket. They've named
it the Kismet House. Wow, and it is fabulous.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
It's named Loveland. When you get your card here and
you buy your tickets, but you get access to all
six of them that are part of this the fifty
sixth annual Monroe Meyer Guild Garden Walk. You can get
your tickets on the website and like I said, if
you can't remember, the website very easy. Omaha garden walks
the first thing that pops up. Luanne Raby, you guys
do such great work. Thank you so much for the information,
Thanks for giving us some tickets to give away this week,
(07:57):
and can't wait to see you guys on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
We're excited to have everybody come. The gardens are just
I'm so excited. They are so great this year
Today it's World Environment Day. My environment is my backyard,
it's my house. It's the things that are happening around
my house. One other thing that it could be is
you're noticing the birds, You're noticing the bees, You're noticing
any little wildlife that you might have around your yard.
And one thing that can be an absolute asset to
you is if you have a garden. Well, when you
(00:20):
have a garden, I can tell from experience with my wife,
you want to see some of the most beautiful gardens
that are available to be seen. And an amazing way
that you can do that is the fifty sixth annual
Monroe Meyer Guild Garden Walk. Joining me in the studio
to talk about that is my friend Luanne Rabie.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Luayanne, thanks for being on the show today, Thanks for
having me and for promoting the Monroe Meyer Guild Garden Walk.
It is the largest garden walk here in Omaha because
we have over a thousand people come, many repeat people
that come every year from Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas. This is
the garden walk.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
That's so great and this is really cool. I'm going
to have tickets to give away at the end of
the interview, so you're going to stick around for that
and I will give that away. Let's talk about it's
fifty six to annual. It means that there's a really
strong tradition built up. What is the history of this
and why has it been able to last so long.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, there's just a bunch of women that put it
on every year. And it started fifty six years ago
with just some doctors and that from the Meyer Institute.
It was a polio rehab institute. And this is a
little fundraiser they put together of doctors and famous people
here in Omaha. It has morphed into having over a
(01:32):
thousand people come. We choose six five to six private gardens,
different gardens every year, so you don't see repeat gardens,
and we find homeowners that will open up their homes
and make their gardens pristine. Our gardens this year are
so diverse. We have a professional garden. We have one.
(01:54):
Three of them were done by the homeowners. One is
the try Faith Orchard and Garden. They have a community
garden there so you see these unusual lettuce and karabi
and all those things. And then we have vendors there
and the gardens are just superb because of the weather
right now, it's we have sun, we have rain, they are.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Lush, it's perfect time to see. This is going to
be on Sunday, nine am to four pm. A lot
of different things that are going to be available for
this group. And it's not just the gardens that people
could be looking for here. I know the first thing
that I saw is some classic cars, some artists and
local vendors going to be a part of this. So
how does this EVNT kind of work? I know that
people buy tickets, do they just kind of show up
(02:37):
to any of these six gardens? How does it work
for them?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
They do? It's a self guided tour. You start whenever
you want to start, you end when you want to end.
You start at whichever garden you want to. If you
don't make them all, you don't make them all self guided.
But there will be a guild member at every house
directing you. We also have master gardeners at every house
so you can talk to them. And the classic cars
(03:00):
they will change one in the morning, one in the
afternoon in each different driveway. The vendors, there's over twenty vendors.
We have garden art, we have wind chimes, we have
stained glass, we have food. We have a coffee truck
in the morning from eight thirty to twelve thirty that
has hot and cold coffee.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Just so many things to look at and do.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
This's going to be a lot of fun. We are
speaking with Leuyn Raybe the Monroe Meyer Garden Guild Walk
or Guild Garden Walk. Sorry, my gee's got mixed up there.
Fifty six annual So this tells you a lot about
how you know, important this has been for people to
keep doing this. And the added element is that the
money that is raised isn't just pocketed by the people
(03:44):
who have the gardens. This goes to a really good cause.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
The people that the homeowners get nothing for it. They're
doing it out out of their love for gardening. But
we will profit about thirty thousand dollars and one hundred
percent of the ticket sales goes to Monroe Meyer Institute.
And what we do is we give scholarships to Camp
Monroe for summer camps that the kids come they love it,
(04:09):
and then we select different grants. The staff will submit ideas, innovative,
new ideas for project equipments. Some of the things that
we've given money to is virtual reality for children with
cerebral palsy, specialized therapy for children on the autism spector spectrum,
(04:30):
job training programs for young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Also,
we have the finest feeding clinic and most intensive feeding clinic.
There are people from Tennessee, from Colorado that come for
these low kids that cannot eat anything, and with intensive
training they learn how to swallow and eat regular food.
(04:53):
We have given money from the garden Walk to give
to attach electrodes so that the staff can see e
exactly if their tongue is not working on one side
or the other side. It's so precise now.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It's unbelievable. And this is the kind of thing that
the funds for this garden walk. You get to enjoy
seeing the garden, You get inspired by what you're seeing,
a lot of different fun stuff, really cool day to
be a part of. But you know the money is
going into such an incredible cause. So what can people
do to learn more? What is the more information they
can learn and then also be able to buy their tickets.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
We have tickets at High v We also have them
at many of the nurseries, but you can go online
and order them and That website is go dot UNMC
dot edu slash garden Walk. If you can't make it
that day, there's a button there that you can donate
to this great cause, so you can go there, order
(05:49):
your tickets online, and pick them up at one of
the gardens.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I'm gonna go ahead and I'm going to do something
live here. I'm gonna just look up Omaha garden Walk. Also,
first thing that pops up fifty sixty annual Woman Monroe
Meyer Guild garden Walk, and the visit Omaha page about
this as well, and the Facebook page about this. So
the first three things when you say Omaha garden Walk,
it's going to pop right up for you. And so
(06:14):
if you can't remember the website, you're just like, oh,
what was the name of that garden walk? Omaha garden Walk.
First thing that pops up there? Is it incredibly affordable
and with the cause that you know, like it provides. Plus,
I mean, how often you're gonna get a chance to
see gardens like this? How much time do you think?
I know, it's open nine am to four pm, but
if somebody's trying to, you know, kind of see all
six gardens, how quickly you think they could be able
(06:36):
to do that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
It'll take about three hours, okay, yeah, and that's because
we just did it with the homeowners last Sunday and
it was two and a half hours and we were
just giving about ten fifteen minutes per garden. And that's
not any vendors or anything.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Right, little shopping aspects. So you could make a full
day out of this if you can.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Some people come in the morning, they go out to lunch,
and they finish up in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
That is so cool. And like you said, I mean,
there's no requirement. I mean, honestly, if you can start
wherever you want, you can end wherever you want. I
know that you don't want to play favorites, but where
would be the best part to start? Like, which spot
do you think would be the best spot? You have
to see this. If you're doing the Monroe Meyer Guild
Garden Walk.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
That would be the one on seventy ninth Street. That
one is all set up. They structured from a Nantucket
type garden and their house is even Nantucket. They've named
it the Kismet House. Wow, and it is fabulous.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
It's named Loveland. When you get your card here and
you buy your tickets, but you get access to all
six of them that are part of this the fifty
sixth annual Monroe Meyer Guild Garden Walk. You can get
your tickets on the website and like I said, if
you can't remember, the website very easy. Omaha garden walks
the first thing that pops up. Luanne Raby, you guys
do such great work. Thank you so much for the information,
Thanks for giving us some tickets to give away this week,
(07:57):
and can't wait to see you guys on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
We're excited to have everybody come. The gardens are just
I'm so excited. They are so great this year
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