MPKS Annual 2023 Garden & Pond Tour

July 15^th – 16^th   and  July 22^nd – 23^rd   

The Midwest Pond & Koi Society invites you to visit our member’s gardens and ponds. This year is our 32^nd year of MPKS members opening their backyards to the public. The dates are July 15^th, 16^th, 22^nd, and 23^rd. The hours are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on each of the 4 days.

The Garden and Pond Tour is divided into regions to help minimize the travel time and increase your enjoyment of leisurely visiting the gardens and ponds. The Tour is self-guided, so you may pick and choose to visit one or all of the many beautiful gardens and ponds listed.

The four regions are:

• Saturday       July 15^th      Southwest / West Region
• Sunday         July 16^th       South Region
• Saturday       July 22^nd     North / Northwest Region
• Sunday         July 23^rd      Central Region

For each region, there is a map(s) indicating all the participants in the region. Following the region map(s) is a descriptive narrative of each garden and pond. This includes the address and a description of the garden and pond, along with directions on how to get to the address.

The garden and pond tour maps are available for purchase at the vendors listed on the MPKS website. The cost is $20.00 per family and allows you to tour all four days.

Pond tour maps may also be purchased directly from MPKS.

Possible towns within a region:

Saturday, July 15  Southwest / West – Downers Grove, Lombard,  Carol Stream,  Naperville, Yorkville, Elburn, Batavia, Wheaton.

Sunday, July 16  South – Bolingbrook,  Shorewood,  Willowbrook, Evergreen Park, Oak Lawn, Lemont, Frankfort, Orland Park, Western Springs, Chicago .

Saturday, July 22  North / Northwest –  Waukegan, Glenview,  Hawthorn Woods,  Rolling Meadows, Buffalo Grove, Arlington Heights,  Hanover Park, Northbrook, West Dundee, Chicago.

Sunday, July 23  Central  – Lombard,  River Forest,  Riverside, North Riverside,  Brookfield.

2024 Pond Tour maps are available at:

This year the Volunteer Appreciation Dinner was held Sunday December 2^nd at The Reserve 22 in Glen Ellyn. This dinner is to thank all the volunteers who donated at least 8 hours of work or were on the Pond Tour. All of these volunteers helped make the MPKS functions throughout the 2018 year a success.

Volunteers worked at the Spring Auction, the Tosai Auction, the MPKS table at garden centers, and the Koi and Trade Show. Also, the many members who were on the July Pond Tour.

Each family attending the dinner received a thank you gift which was a free-standing stained-glass koi made by Beth Schoen. Beth made the major koi types – Kohaku, Showa, Sanke, or Shiro Utsuri and each one was unique.

Thank you, Beth. The koi fish were beautiful and a big hit with our dinner attendees. Beth is located in Michigan and can be found on the internet at BethsAbode.

Reserve 22 Dining Room

Free standing stain glass koi fish. This was the thank you for all the volunteers who attended the Dec 2nd dinner.

Swap Shop Listing

The following items are for sale in the MPKS Swap Shop.

No items at this time.

Summer Gala Dinner

Join us Saturday, June 23^rd for our summer club dinner celebration of our ponds, our koi fish, and the Koi and Trade Show.

The evening program will include a lifetime member award presentation, a short Koi Show awards presentation and an enjoyable evening of koi talk and fun.

The dinner will be held at Buca Di Beppo, 90 Yorktown Mall Drive, Lombard IL. (The corner of Butterfield and Highland Ave.)

The cash bar opens at 7:00 PM followed by a Family Style Italian Dinner at 7:30 PM. The dinner cost is $42.00 per person.

Please RSVP by June 15^th with your name and number of attendees for dinner.

MPKS Annual 2018 Garden & Pond Tour

July 21^st – 22^nd   and  July 28^th – 29^th   

The Midwest Pond & Koi Society invites you to visit our member’s g8rdens and ponds. This year is our 28^th year of MPKS members opening their backyards to the public. The dates are July 21^st, 22^nd, 28^th, and 29^th. The hours are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on each of the 4 days.

The Garden and Pond Tour is divided into regions to help minimize the travel time and increase your enjoyment of leisurely visiting the gardens and ponds. The Tour is self-guided, so you may pick and choose to visit one or all of the many beautiful gardens and ponds listed.

The four regions are:

• Saturday        July 21^st      Central
• Sunday          July 22^nd     Southwest / West
• Saturday        July 28^th      South
• Sunday          July 29^th      North / Northwest

For each region, there is a map(s) indicating all the participants in the region. Following the region map(s) is a descriptive narrative of each garden and pond. This includes the address and a description of the garden and pond, along with directions on how to get to the address.

The garden and pond tour maps are available for purchase at the vendors listed on the MPKS website. The cost is $15.00 per family and allows you to tour all four days.

Pond tour maps may also be purchased directly from MPKS. Please call (312) 409-2081 to place your order with a credit card.

Possible towns within a region:

Saturday, July 21 Central – Lombard, Addison, Villa Park, River Forest, Oak Park, Riverside, North Riverside, Brookfield, Oak Brook, LaGrange.

Sunday, July 22 Southwest/West – Lisle, Downers Grove, Bolingbrook, Naperville, Elburn, Batavia.

Saturday, July 28 South – Clarendon Hills, Burr Ridge, Countryside, Evergreen Park, Dolton, Orland Park, Tinley Park, Homer Glen, Mokena, Decatur IL, and Schererville IN.

Sunday, July 29 North/Northwest –  Chicago, Glenview, Libertyville, Kildeer, Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows, Elgin, Roselle, Carol Stream, Streamwood and Kenosha WI.

Pond Tour maps are available at:

With the weather starting to warm up, we look forward to the MPKS Tosai Auction. The club holds this event to allow MPKS members to purchase a high quality koi fish at a better price.

The auction has about 40-50 fish and the starting price averages $20. This year the tosai koi will be supplied by Kevin Pham of Genki Koi in San Jose California and Myron and Ellen Kloubec of Kloubec Koi Farm in Amana Iowa. There will be a nice selection of koi fish including long fin koi.

This event is for current MPKS members. If your membership is not current, you may renew or join at the check in table on Saturday May 19^th.

Here are pictures of some of the fish for the 2018 Tosai auction.

More details are listed on the events page.

AWARD SPONSORSHIPS

We would greatly appreciate you considering sponsoring an award for our show this year. If your business would like to help, you will be recognized on our popular website, mpks.org and well as in our newsletter, which is read by over 250 member families.

For your consideration, we have attached a list of awards we will be presenting at this year’s competition, along with the cost of sponsoring each trophy, award or plaque. It is our hope that you will consider sponsoring one or more of these high-quality awards. Once again, we wish to thank you for your consideration, and we hope to see you at the show!

AWARDS SPONSORSHIP

Grand Champion—$175     Reserve Grand Champion—$150     Grand Champion ‘B’—$150

Sakura Group Champion—$100       Tsubaki Group Champion—$100      Boton Group Champion—$100

Mature Champion—$100  Mature Champion ‘B’—$100            Young Champion—$100    Young Champion ‘B’—$100

Baby Champion—$100       Baby Champion ‘B’—$100                 Best Doitsu—$75                 Jumbo —$75

Most Unique Koi—$50

Best in size 7 (over 28”)—$75           Best in size 6 (24” to 28”)—$75        Best in size 5 (20” to 24”)—$75

Best in size 4 (16” to 20”)—$75        Best in size 3 (12” to 16”)—$75        Best in size 2 (8” to 12”)—$75

Best in size 1 (under 8”)—$75

Best in Variety

Best in variety awards are presented to the winner of each of 14 classes. Sponsorship of any of the following Best in Variety awards is $30 each, or four for $100.

Kohaku, Sanke, Showa, Bekko, Utsuri, Asagi/Shusui, Koromo/Goshiki, Tancho, Kawarimono, Hikari Muji, Hikari Moyo, GinRin A (Gosanke), GinRin B(Non Gosanke), and Longfin.

Yes, I (we) would like to sponsor the following award(s):

_______________________________________________________________at a cost of _________________________

If you are reserving a show vat or registering for the banquet, please feel free to use the 2018 Banquet & Show registration form for Award Sponsorships also.

Your Name and Address:

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

You may mail your check, payable to MPKS, along with this form to the address below.

Rhonda Mucerino

1106 E. Lowden Ave.

Wheaton, IL.  60189

rhonda@mpks.org

Any questions about awards contact: John Hall – email: john@mpks.org or phone: 815-592-6952

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County is sharing the following information with MPKS.

With spring trying to show up, the Forest Preserve District would like you to know that their annual native plant sale catalog is now on their web site and pre-orders are being taken through April 16.    http://dupageforest.org/native-plant-sale

Something new this year:  Free wood chips are available the weekend after the native plant sale: May 19 from 8 AM to 1 PM.  Bring your bin or pickup truck to the District’s Nursery on Mack Rd and they’ll help you load up wood chips to mulch your new plants.  Wood chips are not available to contractors but the District is happy to provide them for home owner groups and non-profits.

Wood chip postcard.218

The 2018 Volunteer Appreciation dinner was held December 2nd at The Reserve 22 in Glen Ellyn IL. After dinner, Ed Buck thanked all members who volunteered during the year at various club functions.

The president also has the privilege of selecting a MPKS member as the volunteer of the year. The 2018 recipient of this honor is Robert Kunesh.

Congratulations Robert and thanks for all your hard work!

Robert Kunesh
Volunteer of Year 2018

Free standing stain glass koi fish. This was the thank you gift  for all the volunteers who attended the Dec 2nd dinner.

The new 2018 calendar for MPKS is posted. We have some great topics this year along with different meeting locations. February’s topic is how the weather effects our ponds and fish at a new location. Myron and Ellen Kloubec will talk about the effects of all this cold weather on our fish

In March we are doing our private group tour of the Chicago Flower Show. In April, Mike White will share his wisdom with us on bogs. May’s topic is all about Bee Keeping from one of our members.  Of course, we have our Tosai auction May 19^th and Spring auction June 2^nd followed by the Koi Show and Trade Show in June.

We have the exciting pond tour in July and in August we visit the Koubec Koi Farm. The August meeting is different this year. The meeting will be held on Saturday morning and will be an outing to The Gardens at Ball.

Check out the calendar of events for the details on time, locations, and speaker information.

Hope to see you at a meeting!

Charlene Cebulski