We're grateful to DJINN for taking the time to submit this Love Letter to the Tucson Botanical Gardens, a valued partner in the Culture Pass program
A Very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
By the enthusiasm displayed on the #11 bus going South beyond 22nd Street, your cooperation with Pima County Public Library is having a tremendous success.
My neighbor and I sat in the front seats. She was enthusiastically ranting on about her visit to the Tucson Botanical Gardens to another woman who was sitting across the aisle near the exit. At first I didn't realize what she was talking about. She filled me in. She immediately began to encourage me to get a Library card and check out two free tickets to the Tucson Botanical Gardens.
"I got to the Gardens," she said," at 8:30 am when they opened. It's just beautiful. It's wonderful. You walk around and everything is so beautiful. You can walk right in and be with butterflies flying all over on the flowers and everywhere. We stayed all day." On and on.
Rickie, a man sitting opposite us, wanted to know how to get tickets. He asked us if his grandson could come with him, "He's only little would they let him in?" The man then asked if his grandson could get a Library card too. As we talked, I encouraged him to go with his grandson to the Gardens. Then when the family had a special occasion one of them could buy a Family Annual Membership—then you can all go in together and do it over and over for a whole year.
The audience for my neighbor, the "enchanted lady," was infectious. I reckon the whole busload will get Library cards and go to the Gardens! Though the program is not much of a profit to the Tucson Botanical Gardens, it extends the "everything's so beautiful" to a new group. Rickie, a Veteran, told me he's often wondered what the Gardens were like, but had never went. The great thing is, being a Library card holder and actually finding out where and how and what it has to offer brings a great gift to a potential customer.
Rickie and I extended our conversation to my travels in Mexico and so on and we both got off at Banner Medical Center where he changed to a #2 to go home. We shook hands and he was so glad we had had a talk and ceased to look harried and worn. The promise of tickets to the Garden has changed his (his family's/grandson's) life.
Just another view from your non-traditional member.
The Tucson Botanical Gardens are one of more than a dozen participating arts and cultural institutions. Get your free Culture Passes today!
Love Letters to My Library is a collaborative project between Pima County Public Library and Rachel Miller of Love Letters to Tucson. Has the Library helped or changed you in some way? Does a particular location, service, or program hold a special place in your heart? Please tell us about it. Submit your Love Letter today to library.news@pima.gov.
