PARIS – The ninth annual Lilac Festival and Plant Sale will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday through Monday, May 28, 29 and 30, at the McLaughlin Foundation Garden and Horticultural Center, 97 Main St., South Paris.

A $5 donation is requested. Kids are free.

The program schedule is as follows:

Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., “Care and Maintenance of Lilacs,” Kristin Perry, horticulturist; 11 a.m., noon, 1 and 2 p.m., guided tours of the garden; noon, “Jeanine, I Dream of Lilac Time,” silent film staring Gary Cooper and Colleen Moore.

Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., “Care and Maintenance of Lilacs,” Kristin Perry; 11 a.m., noon, 1 and 2 p.m., guided tours of the garden.

Monday, Memorial Day, at 8 a.m., Lilac Lap 5k, runners and walkers welcome,; T-shirts to first 200 entrants, prizes for top three in each age group; 11 a.m., “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed,” by Walt Whitman, read by Dan Lakeman.

The Gift Shop and Garden Cafe will be open.


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