Jacobsen Landscape Opens Its Doors to the Community
Bergen County, NJ Landscape company's outdoor Design Gallery provides a venue for cultural events and community service
MIDLAND PARK, N.J. - November 22, 2010 - Jacobsen Landscape Design and Construction, whose headquarters and Design Center is in Midland Park, has discovered a unique formula for giving back to its neighbors and, in turn, creating new relationships and opportunities for community service.
Jacobsen opened its outdoor Landscape Design Center & Garden Gallery at the historic Barnstable Court in Saddle River 24 months ago. It is at this new location that the 31-year-old landscape business extends a welcome to Northwest Bergen County community, cultural, educational and non-profit organizations as a unique venue for meetings and member activities.
In the past year, Jacobsen hosted nearly 20 community-based meetings and cultural activities at the Gallery. On any given day or evening it is not uncommon to see a landscape educational seminar, Ridgewood Garden Club, West Side Presbyterian Church, USR Educational Foundation, Montvale Chamber of Commerce, WomEnPower Networking Group, Ridgewood Culinary Studio, Eastern Mountain Sports, Boy Scouts or even Shree Yoga of Barnstable Court, holding an outdoor activity among the colors and natural beauty of the gardens.
The Gallery has also become a favorite setting for photographers and painters to spend early mornings or leisurely afternoons enjoying their work. And in one instance, a wedding party celebrating across the pond at the Saddle River Inn strolled across the rustic wooden bridge into the gardens for photographs.
"One of the primary reasons we opened the Landscape Gallery at Barnstable Court was to give us another way to reach out to our friends and customers," explains Glenn Jacobsen, CLP, founder and president of one of northern New Jersey's most prominent and largest privately owned landscape companies. He points out that integrating the Gallery into the community was always a key part of the plan when deciding on a location for expansion.
"This goes well beyond increasing the exposure of Jacobsen Landscape. It is more about becoming a part of the business and residential community that has been so good to us for more than 30 years," he adds.
Community events also allow employees to get to know and interact with local organizations. The company is in the process of scheduling activities for the April through November 2011 season. "We welcome organizations to contact us and we will work with them to provide a unique, relaxing and fun setting for their activity", Jacobsen says.
There have been many highlights in the recent Events calendar, several having made a real impact on both Jacobsen employees and the organizations that were involved. For example:
On one sunny weekend afternoon there was a meet-and-greet for new parishioners of West Side Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood. Organized by parishioners Dick and Lynn Curtin, approximately 80 people attended the outdoor social, complete with live flute music and a warm welcome from the church pastor.
One of the more unique events was Jacobsen's collaboration with Joe Terrone Fine Art of Glen Rock in hosting a Fall Landscape & Garden Art Show, with a portion of artist's proceeds donated to Children's Aid & Family Services of Paramus. Visitors from across Bergen County enjoyed the afternoon strolling through the art and photo exhibit set among the gardens.
The Gallery also hosted Rina Goldhagen's fifth annual Student Show, sponsored by the Art of Excellence Art Studio in Fair Lawn. Its "Zen" exhibit featured watercolor, pastel and charcoal works of Goldhagen's private art students, ranging in age from six-years old to adult. More than 40 art lovers attended.
The Ridgewood Garden Club held its afternoon "English Tea" earlier this year featuring Feng Shui garden expert Lois Kramer-Perez, who drew one of the group's largest audiences of the year.
Among several business networking organizations using the Gallery, the local WomEnpower Group held a Garden Party for more than two dozen members who came for a special presentation and book signing by well-known marriage and family counseling author, Dr. Darlene Garlington.
"The use of our outdoor Garden Gallery can be as creative as our employees and community can be" says Jacobsen. "We welcome unique events."
Looking back over this past year, however, he admits he was a little skeptical when the staff came up with Italian Herb Bistro Night, consisting of a hands-on herb container planting class followed by cooking demonstration and appetizer-tasting by the Ridgewood Culinary Studio.
"But in the end, not only was it great fun, all we needed was a film crew and it would have been the start of a new hit cable television gardening and cooking series."