LOCAL NEWS
MARI SANDOZ SOCIETY CONFERENCE BEGINS AT CSC (with audio)
By John Axtell
Mar 26, 2008 - 8:48:10 PM

The Mari Sandoz Heritage Society's annual conference opens begins today at Chadron State College, with an emphasis on horticulture.

Conference co-chair Lucinda Mays says the Society has paired up this year with the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum to offer a number of hands-on horticulture training sessions this morning and afternoon.

While there is a fee for the horticulture sessions, Mays is excited about a free event later in the day,a drop-in question-and-answer session from 3:30-4:30.It features the cast of the popular NET show The Backyard Farmer, State Arboretum staffers, and gardening author Roger Swain, host of the long-running PBS program The Victory Garden.

Swain...known during the 15 year run of The Victory Garden as “the man with the red suspenders�...will present the conference's free keynote speech at 7:00 in the Sandoz Center.

The Sandoz Society conference continues Friday with its more-traditional schedule of academic sessions...this year under the theme Discover the High Plains of Mari Sandoz. Mays is pleased with the number of people planning to attend both days.

The society's annual banquet is tomorrow night in the Sandoz Center. Its highlight will be the presentation of the group's highest honor...the In the Spirit of Mari Sandoz award...to the society's founder, Judy McDonald.

McDonald was a CSC librarian and library sciences instructor when...with the blessing of the Sandoz family...she founded the society and served as its first executive director. She concluded her career in education as a dean at Bimidji State in Minnesota.