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ATTLEBORO -What do a meteorologist, a traffic reporter, a professor, and a chicken know about arranging flowers? Not much, but that's just the kind of thing that's going to make the Attleboro Arts Museum's annual Flower Show so much more fun this year.

And that's why event flower show coordinator Kathy Hickman invited retired meteorologist John Ghiorse, traffic reporter Scott Montminy, Wheaton College professor Sam Coale, and, believe it or not, Willy T, mascot for Willow Tree Poultry Farm in Attleboro, to participate in one of the more lighthearted events planned for this year's show.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, the four will compete in the "Celebrity Flower Power Design Challenge: Laugh-in Meets Martha Stewart."

"We think the Flower Power theme really lends itself to lighthearted celebration," Hickman said. "Exhibitors and participants are enjoying creating their displays based on songs of the '60s.

"As to the Celebrity Floral Design Challenge, I had read about such contests at other flower shows, but they were for professionals and serious gardeners. I thought it would be more fun to gather some well-known guys who might be 'all thumbs' when it came to flower arranging." The result, Hickman notes, will be a totally impromptu event designed to create an atmosphere of fun and creative chaos.

Ghiorse, a TV and radio meteorologist in Providence for 41 years before retiring on March 1, readily admits that he doesn't know much about flowers, but said he is doing it because it sounds like fun and is for a worthy cause - the Flower Show is one of the museum's major fundraisers.

"My wife Connie and I have a very special attachment to the Attleboro area, having lived in Seekonk for nearly 30 years," Ghiorse said. "We still have many friends from Attleboro and other attachments to the area."

He added, however, that he's in the contest to win."I've never met my worthy opponents but my spies tell me they've all been secretly 'working out' at a fever pitch," he said, tongue firmly in cheek. "I understand Sam, Willy and Scott have some sort of secret pact - some talk about how they're going to triple-team me. You know, one distracts me while the other two do something nasty to my near-perfect design. Well, I'm on to them. It will do them no good.

"My spies tell me that all of them have already secretly put together their designs and will try somehow to slip them in while the judges aren't looking. Again, look for more diversion as they attempt this futile ruse. I'm so confident of victory that anything they try will fail."

As to his knowledge of flower arranging, Ghiorse said, "I think the tall ones go in the middle and you toss out the droopy ones. Oh, and never, never put the puffy things on the end of the stem upside down in the water."

Coale, who teaches American literature and culture at Wheaton and is an author, lecturer and theater critic, seems to be out for the prize as well, although he says he entered the contest "for a lark."

"Being married to a horticulturist is daunting when it comes to twigs and sprouts," Coale said. "For me, a garden is to be walked through at day's end, preferably in summer, with a martini in my hand. That's as close as I've gotten to the soil."

Coale wondered, however, how much competition he will have on Saturday. "What do TV folks and a chicken know about art?" he said.

"I mean where else but being a weatherman can you get it wrong every time and still keep your job?" he continued. "And as for a chicken - all cluck and no culture. He'll lay an egg, I'm sure, while I, with my artistic flair, knowing absolutely nothing about blossoms and buds, will attend to the muse and be remembered long after the arrangement I can conjure up. Give me the petals and I'll knock the cock and the TV talkers outta the garden!" Montminy, NECN and WBZ Newsradio's morning traffic reporter, chose not to talk trash about Ghiorse or Coale, but Willy T better beware.

"I've got 11 herbs and spices with Willy T's name on 'em. He'll be calling me 'Colonel' before it's over," Montminy said, adding that he has a few more words for Willy T: "Shake 'n' bake."

And what does Willy T have to say about all this? Well, his boss, Willy Tree Poultry Farm President Walter Cekala, chose to take the high road.

"It sounds like a lot of fun and we're honored we were asked to be a part of the event," Cekala said.

"We try to be involved with many community events throughout the year, but we've never done flower arranging," he added, humbly noting that Willy T "only has wings, so it may be tough. But I know he will try his hardest."

Other fun stuff

Beyond the Celebrity Flower Design Challenge, there will be numerous other fun activities for all ages, including the humor that Attleboro artist Belinda Gabryl has injected into this year's Garden Club competition.

Gabryl said Attleboro artist Sarah Mott suggested she create a human-like head as a flower container for the competition. Known for creating wall sconces for the museum's craft shows, Gabryl says she took the idea and ran with it.

"I based the heads on famous people from the times (John Lennon, Elton John, Jimmy Hendrix), and sunglasses and glasses in general were a personal statement at that time, too," Gabryl said. "The heads are about hair, long beautiful hair, and the freedom one has to express themselves through hair...With the theme of Flower Power, what better than hair?"

Garden Club competition participants include the Attleboro Garden Club, the Chartley Garden Club of Norton, the Sohoanno Garden Club of Wrentham and the Sharon Garden Club.

And, of course, it wouldn't be a flower show without the featured exhibitors, who will be displaying their innovative landscape installations and floral designs. They include the Attleboro High School Landscape and Greenhouse Program, The Black Opal, Briggs Nursery, Bristol County Agricultural High School, The Corner Flower Shoppe, Flowers by the Station, Ed Liston Landscaping, Nolan's Flowers and Gifts, and Plantasia.

To help support the cause, artwork, plants and other items also will be for sale during the show, including special items from the museum's Gift Shop.

"With the economy the way it is, and funding cuts that have impacted the museum, we are hoping that attendees will join us for a great experience - but not forget that their contributions will go directly to arts programming and exhibitions at the museum," said museum Executive Director Mim Fawcett.

JANETTE BOULAY can be reached by

phone or fax at 508-222-0993 or by e-mail at janette.boulay@gmail.com.