- A Perry neighbor transforms his hurricane-damaged holiday shop into a memorial garden.
- The garden will be featured at the Taylor County Master Gardener Spring Festival.
- Watch the video to hear Christopher James explain how it helped him heal after a family tragedy.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A holiday shop lost to hurricanes; a family lost to tragedy; and a garden that grew in the middle of it all. I’m Lentheus Chaney in Perry. I'm sharing how one man’s memorial has become a community movement.
Christopher James’ holiday decoration shop was once a bright spot in Perry. After powerful storms battered the building and heartbreak struck his family, he turned to the soil.
In the shadow of a still-leaking roof, he built something new. Thousands of colorful flowers now fill the space once meant for parking, planted in honor of his wife. She died of cancer in November 2017. The flowers also honor James' son, shot and killed just two months later, in January 2018.
He says the garden helps in his healing, and he hopes it helps others.
“I just want people to know that this is a miracle. I believe this is all part of heaven right here on Earth because we wouldn’t have so many different types of flowers and the textures and the colors and then of course the butterflies and the birds. So if somebody can appreciate, like I do as an artist, all of this, I think it will make their life move on, even if they have all this tragedy,” James said.
Saturday, many of James’ precious flowers will be on full display at the Taylor County Master Gardener Spring Festival Plant Sale.
Taylor County Master Gardener coordinator Lisa Strange says this event will have a huge impact on the community.
“People in this area have been coming here for years and they look forward to it. There will be people wrapped around the doors, coming in, waiting for the door to open at 9 o’clock. And that money comes back into our county,” Strange said.“
"Our community really needs the help. You know, we lost all of our major industry here. The little town is trying to survive," James said.
James says it’s never been about the money. For him, it’s about showing visitors that Perry has something special—and encouraging them to stop, explore, and support the small businesses that call this place home.
In Perry, Lentheus Chaney, ABC27.
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