From the moment guests alighted from their cars, they were transported into the magical world of McKee Botanical Garden at its invitational Centennial Kickoff Celebration, commemorating 100 years of McKee’s Living Collections and highlighting its remarkable transformation from an untamed Florida hammock to becoming a nationally recognized botanical garden.
Guests were welcomed by Kasa Panzu, an African folk master entertainer, who captivated the crowd with mesmerizing drumming, dance and traditional costume performances beneath McKee’s towering Christmas tree.
Visitors next strolled along the illuminated trails that wound through the six Amazonian gardens of this year’s Jungle Lights holiday lights display, which paid tribute to the countries once explored by McKee’s original plant collectors. The nighttime illumination of the garden, which McKee has done for the past 19 years during the Christmas season, has become one of the most cherished family traditions on the Treasure Coast.
Amid the local flora and fauna, the group met the Livin’ the Rhythm African Drummers, whose synchronized drumming harmonized with the nighttime sounds of birds and rainfall. The combination created an overall sensory experience that completed its uniqueness.
The evening’s program was hosted by Marion de Vogel, great-granddaughter of Arthur McKee, who offered a brief history of McKee Jungle Gardens and its development under the vision of McKee and Waldo Sexton.
“You walked in the footsteps of the intrepid plant explorers sent by McKee and Sexton into the Amazon jungle to bring back exotic specimens for their Royal Park Exotic Nursery, which once encircled this property,” said de Vogel.
“Those exotic specimens, together with this exceptional and rare native Florida hammock, under the visionary management of landscape architect William Lyman Phillips, became what we knew as McKee Jungle Gardens. Those same collections came together in 1926 under this great jungle canopy and are what we now call McKee’s Living Collections.”
Rochelle Wolberg, McKee executive director, spoke about the garden’s enduring legacy and growing impact.
“Between 2010 and 2020, the average number of visitors each year was around 52,000. Over the past five years, since 2020, we’ve averaged 120,000 visitors annually,” said Wolberg.
“We were honored to host more than 30,000 first graders from Indian River, Martin and Palm Beach counties who are discovering McKee for the first time. And this year, we expect to exceed 20,000 visitors during Jungle Lights alone. As we celebrate this Centennial, we are honoring the milestone of connecting our past with our present.”
To support the next phase of McKee’s evolution, Wolberg introduced their Light the Legacy Centennial Capital Campaign, an initiative designed to raise $3 million to modernize and expand the Garden’s energy and illumination systems.
The funding will enable them to “open additional paths during Jungle Lights, reduce reliance on generators, mitigate flooding vulnerabilities and host evening programs throughout the year, ensuring that McKee’s historic jungle can be experienced day and night for generations to come.”
The evening concluded with a powerful finale by LED Water Drummers, who transformed water, rhythm and light into a rippling performance of sound and motion.
The Centennial kickoff set the tone for a year-long celebration, which continues next with the Florigami in the Garden exhibition by Santa Fe artists Jennifer and Kevin Box. The outdoor sculptures, featuring colorful, large-scale, origami-inspired metal sculptures of flora and fauna, are on display through May 24.
For more information, visit McKeeGarden.org.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
