Gar-Pal plant sale still on

The Gar-Pal FFA is continuing with its annual plant sale, although the format will be different than in previous years.

The sale will take place on April 25 and 29 and May 2 and 6, by appointment only due to COVID-19 concerns.

“Here at Garfield Palouse FFA Plant Sale, we are driven by a single goal, to keep our students safe during this time,” according to the plant sale website. “Our decision-making process in this different time is to help us best protect our FFA members and still try to serve our community.”

Garfield-Palouse High School agricultural career and technical education instructor Megan Wilson said that at first there wasn't a set date for the plant sale due to school closures and the COVID-19 issue.

“We were waiting on the weather and then we saw that the closure could be a possibility so we were just waiting to solidify a date,” Wilson said.

This year's sale will be done only from the FFA greenhouse, since travel is limited at this time.

Another change to the sale is the appointment only format. Appointments can be booked on the available days of the sale in 15-minute blocks.

According to the plant sale website, this will allow time to pick up plants, but also provide the safety of minimal contact with others, keeping shoppers, volunteers and staff are as safe as possible.

There are roughly 20 different flower/plant selections for this year's sale.

To help reduce contact, the Gar-Pal FFA is asking for all those shopping, if they can, to pay with a check instead of cash. If cash is the only option, it's asked to bring exact change to limit hand-to-hand exchanges.

“The money that the plant sale raises just goes into our general FFA account,” Wilson said. “This account helps to cover meeting meals, awards, travel expenses and anything else our members decide on.”

Appointment slots, which are still open, and flowers that are for sale are available at mwilson431.wixsite.com/garpalffa.