PRINCESS ANNE — The Todd Family Community Garden is blooming this spring with 200 red tulips — a visual reminder of last year’s “Plant a Promise” educational effort during Red Ribbon Week.

The message of living a safe, healthy and drug-free life is emphasized as the tulips blossom, and on Tuesday, April 16 the young people will be back for a “Blooming Celebration” 5:30 to 7 p.m. (Note this is a date change from what was previously published in the County Times.)

Prevention Works Coordinator and Town Commissioner Shelley Johnson said children from the Garland Hayward Youth Center and others will be on hand for a free cookout.

The garden, located on the corner of Beckford and Antioch avenues, is a memorial to Rodney Todd and his seven children who were found dead April 6, 2015 from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a generator that was left running inside their home.

The house was disassembled and moved to Delmar and the lot donated to the town later that year. In 2020 the commissioners approved it becoming a memorial garden following a proposal by McCoy Curtis of the UMES Extension program Well Connected Communities. For more details email Figi4thekids@gmail.com.