After a year of going virtual, the Friends School Plant Sale is taking it outside in its return to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.
Thousands are expected to attend Thursday's opening day, with just as many scheduled to stop by every day through the weekend.
Last year's event had to be reworked because of the pandemic, but taking orders online and staging plant pick-ups at various locations allowed the Quaker-based K-through-8 school to break even with local growers who provide the plants.
Even though this year's plant sale is four days long, running through Sunday, school administrators have scaled down their goals.
They expect to raise about $250,000 for school maintenance, scholarships, and other items.
That's about half of what they usually take in.
Also scaled back is the attendance, which usually runs between 10-15,000 inside the State Fair Grandstand.
The school set up timed slots for people to shop, and the day reservations opened up, they were all gone.
"Quick enough to crash our website on the first morning," said Head of School Joe Mueller. "You don't want that to happen from a customer service standpoint, but it's also a really good sign of the demand for what you're trying to do."
What they're trying to do is keep the sale safe during the pandemic, which is why it was moved outdoors to allow for more spacing.
All customers attending the Friends School Plant Sale this year must wear masks.
More than a thousand volunteers have signed up to ensure a smooth process from picking plants to paying for them.
