After 48 years of gardening magnificence, the Wichita Garden Show is no more, at least according to this news from earlier today.  I haven’t attended for the last 2 years because the admission fee was just too much for my budget.  The year before that, I had free tickets or I wouldn’t have gone.  It always felt to me like I was paying a big ticket price (I believe it was $11 for admission) just for the privilege of being allowed in to shop.  Um…. that’s not how I roll.  Maybe I’m not the only one that doesn’t roll that way. 

Officials decide to end Wichita Garden Show

BY ANNIE CALOVICH

The Wichita Eagle

WICHITA — A local institution, the Wichita Garden Show, is shutting down and will not take place next year, it was announced today.

The show, held each spring in Wichita for 48 years, was going to have only one great garden next year, garden show manager Alex Lingg said. While attendance has been up and down for the past six years, overall it was dwindling, she said.

This year’s show, in March, was a successful and drew 40,000 people, Lingg said. But as costs continue to rise, it would have been hard to keep ticket prices in line with what the market could bear, she said. The board of directors decided to shut down the show while it was at a high point rather than watch it decline, she said.