See Fall Blooms at the Barberton Mum Festival

As September brings the first breezes of fall, the east side of Lake Anna Park transforms into chrysanthemum heaven. The Barberton Mum Festival presents over a million blooming mums in a remarkable, themed display each year. 

What is now Barberton’s largest annual event started in 1991, when local greenhouse Aris Horticulture donated 15,000 chrysanthemum bulbs for planting along the eastern side of Lake Anna Park in celebration of the city’s bicentennial. The festival grew from this one-time flower display into an event that also features vendors, live entertainment, water-skiing shows and welcomes nearly 30,000 visitors annually. 

“We take pride in making sure that this is the best festival that it can be, that it can provide entertainment and opportunities to make memories for the people in this city,” says Tammy Simmons, director of the Barberton parks and recreation department. The festival is set for Sept. 26 and 27. 

Year after year, Simmons’ team works tirelessly to plan the elaborate chrysanthemum displays. She says the planning starts in December when city employee and longtime designer of Mum Festival displays, Brian Coffman, begins laying out his plan for the next upcoming fall’s flower spectacle. 

To select the varieties of mums that will work best for the display, color and blooming times are carefully considered. Simmons says that the plants arrive at the park usually in the middle of June and her crew plants them all at Lake Anna Park in the span of three days. There, the mums germinate until September when they will be in full bloom. 

This year’s festival celebrates the United States’ 250th birthday with a display featuring a waving American flag and a bald eagle. The free event includes a performance from the Akron Symphonic Winds, Chippewa Lake Water Ski Team demonstrations, food and art vendors and plenty of mums. 615 W. Park Ave., Barberton 44203, cityofbarberton.com/life/mumfest 

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