Garden Club’s Pizzazz shopping event to raise money for environmental, conservation projects

The green spent at this annual event is helping to make the region greener.

Proceeds from Pizzazz, a designer boutique shopping experience hosted by the Garden Club of Allegheny County, have funded more than $2 million in environmental and conservation projects.

This year, there will be 35 vendors, including 12 new ones, selling merchandise — men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and accessories; jewelry; leather goods; gifts; home decor; linens; personalized stationery; and specialty food items.

The shopping event is set Oct. 16-18 at the Fox Chapel Golf Club.

“Pizzazz helps us highlight so many great causes, which is our mission,” said Susan Boyle of Fox Chapel, this year’s vendor chair and past president of the Garden Club of Allegheny County and past grants chair.

“We are always looking for new projects. We strive to highlight historic preservation, community education and the environment. The guests at Pizzazz know the money they are spending helps others. They’ve always been so generous.”

Grants make a difference

One of the first grants from the Garden Club, founded in 1914, was awarded to the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy in late 1997 and early 1998. The money supported general operations and education programs.

Three more recent landmark projects include the fountain in Allegheny Commons on Pittsburgh North Side and gardens in Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park and the Frick Environmental Center landscape design in Point Breeze.

James Snow, vice president and chief administrative officer at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring the city’s public parks system and ensuring that all residents have access to high-quality parks and green spaces, said the work the Garden Club does is phenomenal.

“They advocate for the city’s parks system not only through grants but also through events to help showcase the history and nature of green spaces in the area,” Snow said.

There are more than 176 parks and 3,800 acres in the city.

The collaboration with the Garden Club is a true partnership, Snow said. The club is huge asset to this city, he added.

“They care about the quality of life in our green spaces,” Snow said. “They have helped us grow. The Pizzazz shopping event is an annual tradition that has a regional impact.”

That impact lasts long after the initial funding because these projects are about sustainability, said Lauren Pearman, education coordinator for Allegheny CleanWays.

The nonprofit was formed in 2000 to “engage and empower people to eliminate illegal dumping and littering in Allegheny County.” For a second year, a grant from the Garden Club is helping with a program called StepKeepers, where the current focus of the project aims to clean up litter and dumping, remove invasive plant species, plant native species, beautify and maintain four new sets of city staircases in the city.

“The Garden Club of Allegheny County has put a lot into this project, and we are grateful,” Pearman said. “It’s a form of green tourism, and one part of that includes the steps — which are a great way to see and experience the city.”

Once stairs are revitalized, Allegheny CleanWays pairs a community volunteer to steward the space. They keep it litter-free and report any major trash concerns to Allegheny CleanWays.

There are more than 800 flights of stairs in the city of Pittsburgh — about 15 miles of steps.

Allegheny CleanWays is partnering on the steps project with Landforce, which restores and maintains land and green assets while providing workforce development to community members with barriers to employment. In this partnership, Landforce manages the removal of invasive greenery and the planting of native species along the stairs, said Caily Grube, executive director for Allegheny CleanWays.

This relationship is key, Grube said, because when green spaces are tended to, it can reduce littering and dumping.

Courtesy of Matthew Nemeth

Funding from the Garden Club of Allegheny County is being used for the StepKeepers project, a collaboration between Allegheny CleanWays and Landforce, which aims to clean up litter and dumping, remove invasive plant species, plant native species, beautify and maintain four new sets of city staircases in the city. At Ewarts Way in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, 600 pounds of litter was removed.

Last year, five sets of steps on the North Side were selected and this year five in the Hill District have been chosen. Allegheny CleanWays and Landforce partner frequently and are always looking for volunteers to help with the original work and to help continue monitoring the spaces for sustainability.

The Garden Club cares about the history of the region, Pearman said. The steps project work began with identifying the steps that need to be repaired. And initial cleanup is done by removing litter and other debris. Landforce takes care of things such as repainting the railings.

“We have a wonderful relationship with the Garden Club,” Grube said. “They do such good work. And in addition to giving us funds, they also promote our cause. They will come out and help us. They truly want to be a part of what we are doing.”

Boost for student research

For Tree Pittsburgh, which strives to create an online hub that provides information about local arboreta, botanical gardens devoted to trees, the Garden Club’s money will be used to fund multiple live tree identification walks in each arboretum space.

Tree Pittsburgh is creating a website where people can find local arboreta. There will be virtual tours, maps and lesson plans that are customized to each space.

Upcoming tree identification walks sponsored by the Garden Club of Allegheny County will be at noon Oct. 10 in Homewood Cemetery; Oct. 17 at The Frick Pittsburgh; Oct. 24 at Chatham University; Oct. 31 at Allegheny Cemetery; Nov. 11 at Duquesne University; Nov. 21 at Westinghouse Park; and Dec. 5 at Mellon Park.

“Pizzazz is a fun event, and it connects many area organizations working to better green spaces in this city,” said Danielle Crumrine, executive director at Tree Pittsburgh.

One of the first grants went to Botany in Action fellowships at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Oakland. It awards fellowships to doctorate students who are conducting plant-based research and outreach efforts in the U.S. and abroad.

David Felipe Rodríguez Mora was chosen as the 2024 Paula Sculley Fellow. He is a doctoral candidate at The University of Texas at San Antonio. His research is based in Colombia and focuses on a family of tropical plants called yagé, used in rituals by the indigenous Cofán people.

Camille DeSisto was chosen for the second year as the Susan Clancy Fellow. She is a doctoral candidate at Duke University. Her work focuses on lemur-plant interactions in the rainforests of the COMATSA protected area in Madagascar. She is researching how highly endangered lemurs impact seed dispersal, studying plant germination, growth and survival.

The program was founded in 1995 by best friends Paula Sculley and Susan Clancy after attending a lecture by Dr. Peter Raven from the Missouri Botanic Garden about the devastation of different species around the world disappearing.

Clancy and Sculley hosted the first Pizzazz event at Clancy’s Sewickley home before it moved to the Pittsburgh Golf Club and the Fox Chapel Golf Club. They raised $25,000 the first year.

“We knew we had to do something to fund field work for students doing research,” Clancy said. “Pizzazz is a lot of fun and beneficial for the city of Pittsburgh.”

Wishes granted

The Garden Club of Allegheny County awards grants based on community needs, membership interests and the availability of the club’s resources.

Over more than 25 years, the Garden Club has raised more than $2 million through Pizzazz proceeds to fund these grants.

Grant applications are accepted between Sept. 1 and Jan. 15.

A link to the projects can be found at https://www.gcacpgh.org/grants.