The Great Swamp Watershed Association will host a Summer Tea Party on Sunday, July 19, at the Cora Hartshorn Arboretum and Bird Sanctuary in Short Hills, marking the nonprofit's 45th anniversary with a noon-to-2 p.m. fundraiser open to the community.
GSWA staff will serve a traditional high tea featuring finger sandwiches, homemade scones with clotted cream and fresh jam, and an assortment of desserts. Guests are encouraged to wear their finest tea party attire for a Fancy Hat Contest, and a local history Trivia Challenge will test attendees' knowledge. Each guest takes home a commemorative tea mug custom-designed for the anniversary milestone.
"A great cup of tea starts with clean water," said Sandra LaVigne, GSWA's Director of Water Quality Programs, in a press release announcing the event.
Tickets and registration are available at GreatSwamp.org or by calling 973-538-3500. Pricing was not listed in GSWA's announcement.
GSWA was founded on March 31, 1981, after Green Village resident Abigail Fair coined the rallying cry "Saved but not safe." Fair enlisted neighbor Helen Fenske, a key figure in the 1960s fight to block a proposed jetport in the Great Swamp, and Julia Somers to launch the organization. For its first decade, GSWA ran entirely on volunteers meeting monthly at Harding Township Town Hall.
In 1991, the board hired Somers as its first executive director. She served 16 years.
Executive Director Bill Kibler said in a press release that before GSWA existed, land-use and zoning decisions were made municipality by municipality, with no one looking at the watershed as a single, shared ecosystem. As developers focused on the region, he said, founders recognized that while the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was saved, the water flowing through it remained vulnerable.
The organization now employs 11 staff members and counts more than 1,800 members across 40-plus municipalities, according to GSWA's anniversary press release. It educates over 3,000 school children annually, monitors more than 30 stream locations, and holds roughly 50 public events each year. In 2016, GSWA became the official Waterkeeper Alliance Affiliate for the Passaic River, and in 2017 it earned National Land Trust Designation, one of only eight New Jersey organizations to achieve that accreditation.
The tea party takes place at the 16.5-acre Cora Hartshorn Arboretum, a public nature preserve on Forest Drive South that is home to 275-year-old tulip trees and more than 100 species of birds.
Upcoming
- Sunday, July 19 — GSWA Summer Tea Party, noon–2 p.m., Cora Hartshorn Arboretum, Forest Drive South, Short Hills. Register at GreatSwamp.org or call 973-538-3500.
