Just as roses are counted in dozens, Richmond Rose Garden volunteers are planning their dozenth annual 1stBLOOM&GLOW fundraiser on Wednesday, June 3.
The event features inflating hot air balloons to draw a crowd and help increase awareness of the garden in its 39th year at Glen Miller Park. The garden operates on donations and is maintained by volunteers.
The words “1st Bloom” in the name refer to the beginning of the rose blooming season, typically just in time for the event.
Several hot air balloons will glow at dusk around 9 p.m. a few feet from the garden at Glen Miller’s golf facility and walking trails in the 2500 block of East Main Street.
The event’s rain date is Thursday, June 4.
Admission and parking on the golf course lawn are free for the glow. Guests are invited to come early and bring their own seating and snacks.
Those who purchase $40 dinner tickets in advance can visit local caterers’ food stations around the garden from 6:30-8:30 p.m. A limited number of tickets remain at Wayne County Convention & Tourism Bureau’s Old National Road Welcome Center, 5701 National Road E., and Wayne County Foundation, 33 S. Seventh St., both in Richmond.
The balloons don’t leave the grounds so that the public can watch them inflate throughout the evening. Organizers previously discovered that the time needed for the crew to inflate the balloons, fly, land, pack and drive them to the park to inflate them again takes them away from the crowd too long.
The event is sponsored by businesses, organizations and individuals, but volunteers and additional contributions of any amount are sought to help with garden maintenance. Donations may be sent in care of Wayne County Foundation marked for Rose Garden Fund, 33 S. Seventh St., Richmond, IN 47374, or made online at richmondrosegarden.com.
The garden is open all year long and no admission is charged. It’s wheelchair accessible and includes about 100 varieties of All-America Rose Selections. There’s also a nearby Richmond-Friendship Garden and rose sculpture celebrating the city’s friendship with Zweibruken, Germany.
Richmond Parks and Recreation raised $50,000 in April to receive an identical match from Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority toward restoring the E.G. Hill Fountain later this summer in its adjacent E.G. Hill Memorial Rose Garden.
For more information, call 765-914-0304.
Disclosure: Millicent Martin Emery is a volunteer for the Rose Garden’s events committee.
A version of this article appeared in the May 27 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
