Hydrangea Fest Info

Non profits and gardeners who want to participate in 2024 Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival, contact greta@capecodchamber.org.

$50.00 Participation Fee per Non-profit for Cape Cod Chamber Non-Members. 

Click the links below for: 

• Learn How to Get Involved in Cape Cod Hydrangea Fest
• Cape Cod Hydrangea Fest Participation Form
• Sponsorship Opportunities
• Frequently Asked Questions
• ​How Non-Profits can Bring in More Funds During the Festival
• How To Run A Garden Tour
• How Nonprofits Can Find Gardens and Garden Owners Can Know if Their Property Should Be On Tour

Email Greta if you are interested in receiving further notices of Hydrangea Fest meetings or in participating!

WHAT: The Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival – ten days of open gardens Cape-wide. Note: gardens do not have to be on tour every day of that ten-day period, the number of days a garden is open, and which day of the week they are open, is up to the sponsoring non-profit: details below.

WHERE: Open gardens would be located on Cape Cod, from Provincetown to Woods Hole. 

WHO: Any Cape non-profit or business could become a member of the CCHF and be listed on the festival website and all promotional materials. Organizations that are already members of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce can be a part of the CCHF without charge, and non-members would pay $50 a fee to join. (All proceeds will be used to promote the event or support other costs such as signs.)

Non-profits will sponsor and staff the private gardens that will be open during the festival. A day-by-day list of open gardens will be published on the CCHF website.

Museums, businesses and other organizations with public facilities might also choose to hold special garden/hydrangea related events such as lectures, sales, and demonstrations in this time. A list of CCHF events will also be on the website.

The umbrella organization for the coordination and marketing of the CCHF will be the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber, along with committees of volunteers, will provide support and information to the participating CCHF members.

HOW: Cape non-profits will find homeowners/gardeners who are willing to have their gardens open during the festival. All gardens will charge $5.00 for entry and this money will go directly to the non-profit.

Non-profits can choose to have their garden/gardens open on any or all of the festival’s ten days. (For example, next year one group might only have two gardens that are on tour, one on Saturday and another on Wednesday. Another organization might have one garden that’s open all ten days, while a third group might have five gardens that are all open only on a Sunday.) The number of gardens and days they will be open are determined by the non-profits and the property owners who are willing to open their yards for this event.

The non-profit will be responsible for finding their gardens and staffing them with enough people to take tickets, watch the visitors, and direct traffic/parking if needed. A minimum of four staffers per garden is recommended, but larger properties might need more. Non-profits with fewer volunteers might want to space out the gardens that they have open over several days so that staffing is adequate at each property.

The non-profit will decide if they want to offer refreshments at their gardens or if they want to sell plants or other small items as an additional way to raise funds on that day. The non-profit is free to find additional sponsors for their tours and they are encouraged to promote their tours locally to the best of their ability.

The non-profit will be responsible for working with the homeowner to assist with any preparations in advance and cleanup after the event. The non-profit will also be responsible for procuring any additional umbrella-coverage insurance that the homeowners may request for the days of the event.

All gardens will be open from 10 AM to 4 PM on the day of the tour. Gardens on tour will be provided with signs that showing the CCHF logo for identification on the day of the tour.

It will be the non-profit’s responsibility to know that a garden will be appealing to those who visit their chosen properties. Many types and styles of gardens are welcome, including those that have few hydrangeas and those with many of the “signature plant.” Note that hydrangeas in containers are acceptable. Hydrangea-free gardens are welcome although this fact will need to be in the garden’s description.

Non-profits will provide the CCHF with a description of each garden they have on tour for the festival website. The CCHF will provide non-profits and property owners with guidelines for writing compelling descriptions for the gardens they will have on tour. Non-profits will also need to provide simple directions to their garden/gardens from the closest major roadways.

Additional garden tour guidelines will be provided for those organizations and gardeners who want to participate in this event.

Gardeners who are not affiliated with a non-profit but would like their gardens to be considered for the tour can contact the chamber or committee member C.L. Fornari to be matched with a sponsoring organization.

If you are a Cape Cod Hydrangea Fest participant and would like to use the logo on your website, please right click the logo below and choose "Save As" to save the logo to your computer. Please link the logo to the main event page at CapeCodHydrangeaFest.com.