We were driving to Tower Grove Park for the second day in a row, when a thought popped into my head, “Why not go to the Garden instead?” After a last-minute course correction, we turned off into the parking lot of this adjoining greenspace. We were early, the Garden doesn’t open until nine, but people were already gathering. It turns out that on Wednesday mornings the Garden admits for free any St. Louis City or County resident. Normally, there is an admission fee or as in our case, as members, an annual membership fee. It was another gorgeous morning and as the opening moment arrived a Garden employee came out to organize the throng. Her efforts put us at the head of the line. First in line, we were soon chased inside by an army of moms pushing strollers and their children. Stopping momentarily to smell the roses, we were soon engulfed by this racing parade of strollers. We must have looked both dazed and confused, because one young mom yelled back to us, as she ran past us, “We’re all heading to the Children’s Garden to get tickets there before they sell out. It’s like the Hunger Games!” Note to self, don’t go to the Garden on Wednesday mornings. We chose a path less traveled and enjoyed a lovely visit at the Gardens. 

This summer’s show is entitled, Origami in the Garden. It features metal statues that were fashioned to look like folded paper. Above, is the Garden’s video advert for this show. I’ve linked to it on Vimeo. It features lots of nice drone work, which I am so jealous of, because the Garden doesn’t normally permit drone flying. While touring the Garden we also occasionally ran across one young woman, wearing the Garden’s uniform, who job it appeared was to photograph the Garden. Good work if you can find it. Anne wanted to ask her how she finds new things to photograph every day, but we never did. The Origami show’s signature piece is this tower of white cranes called Master Peace. Legend has it that if you fold 1,000 cranes in a single year, you will be granted a wish. Many people undertake this paper-folding pilgrimage in an effort to master peace. There are 500 cranes in the pictured tower, but if you include their reflection, you have a grand.