Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico - The long-awaited Grand Opening of the Vallarta Conservatory of Mexican Orchids and Native Plants will be celebrated with a week-long festival at the Vallarta Botanical Gardens from December 6-13, 2014.

The festivities start with a ribbon cutting ceremonies at 1:00 pm on Saturday, December 6 at the Jardin de Botánico de Vallarta, and a host of activities to delight cultural and botanical explorers of all ages are scheduled for each day of the opening week.

Vallarta Orchid Conservatory Grand Opening Activities:

Saturday, December 6, 1 pm: Ribbon Cutting followed by Mariachi and Folkloric Dance
Sunday, 2 pm: Mexican-American artist Esperanza Gama "Inspiration of Mexican Orchids"
Monday, 2 pm: "Botanical Exploration: Orchids of Vallarta's Cloud Forests" with Bob Price
Tuesday, 2 pm: Meet the artist Esperanza Gama "Biodiversity in Art"
Wednesday, 2 pm: Lecture by T.J. Hartung "The History of Vanilla"
Thursday, 2 pm: Performances by Vallarta musicians Bob Bruneau and Joan Houst
Friday, 2 pm: Meet the artist Esperanza Gama "Amate paper as a magical canvas"
Saturday, 2 pm: Performances by popular Tepic contra-tenor Gabriel Delgadillo

Bob Price, curator and founder of the Vallarta Botanical Gardens is a founding member of the Vallarta Garden Club. He will also be the speaker at our December 18th meeting (11:00 a.m. at No Way José!, 5 de Febrero in the Zona Romantica.) The topic? Orchids!

We're so lucky to have this world-class facility here in Puerto Vallarta! Let's all celebrate with a visit to the Gardens this week.