The Wareham Garden Club is all about making Wareham a better place. In warmer seasons, the club strives to spread community pride through beautification of the town, while during colder days it cultivates fun holiday events.

It also encourages youths such as Sacred Heart School student Maeve Lopes to nurture their creativity through the art of writing. 

On Thursday Lopes received a certificate from the Wareham Garden President Peter LaBouliere after she won first place among second graders in the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts poetry contest. The contest theme this year was "Pop Goes The Seed." 

Lopes’ poem “My Beach Fun” was inspired by her summer activities. 

“I like writing and I think the most difficult thing was to think and remember everything I did during the summer,” said Lopes. 

Lopes recited her poem to nearly sixty listeners in the audience, including keen supporters like her mother and her grandmother, Barbara Geagan. Knowing Lopes’ love for “wildlife, butterflies, and seeds,” Geagan came up with the idea to enroll her granddaughter in the poetry contest. 

Lopes’ poem was well received with applause and cheers. LaBouliere gifted the young writer with a carefully wrapped children's poetry book, Shel Silverstein’s “Where the Sidewalk Ends.”

“Thank you, Maeve, for sharing your award-winning poem with us,” said LaBouliere. “We are very proud and we feel honored that you represent the Wareham Garden Club so well!”

In his speech, LaBouliere thanked the club members and local organizations — such as the Wareham Land Trust, Buzzards Bay Coalition, Wareham Village Association and Onset Bay Association — that help run the club’s activities and events.

The Wareham Garden Club will be holding their annual Christmas Faire on Saturday, December 7, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Hall, 82 High St.

The fair will feature baked goods along with table decorations, greens, fire starters, miniature boxwood trees, ornaments, and other festive goods. Proceeds will benefit the club’s work, including scholarships, civic beautification, and workshops at the Council on Aging.

For more information, including how to join the club, go to warehamgardenclub.com or email warehamgardenclub@gmail.com.

Maeve’s poem 

Jumping off the dock

Jumping in the waves

Making sand castles

Looking for whales

Swimming in water

Flying kites

Looking for shells

Catching minnows

Putting minnows in buckets

Digging holes in the sand

Squishing the rook weed

Watching the seed pop out