As thrilling as sunshine in winter: Our prize drawing is back!

by Connie Oswald Stofko

What’s as exciting as sunshine on a winter day?

The prize drawing for subscribers to Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com!

The prize package is worth about $450! There will be three winners, and each winner will receive the entire prize package!

To enter, just subscribe to Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com, the online gardening magazine for Western New York.

It’s free to subscribe!

Three winners will be selected at random from our list of subscribers. If you already subscribe, you are already entered into the prize drawing. The deadline to enter is Tuesday, March 21.

__________

I appreciate my current readers! Have you already subscribed? Then you are already entered into the drawing!

__________

One new rule change

Winners used to have five or six days to respond, but now they will have only three days. Here’s why.

I send an email to each of the winners and ask them to respond so I know they’re ready to pick up their prizes. Usually the winner responds right away.

But some don’t respond right away. Over the years I’ve noticed that if a winner doesn’t respond quickly, they don’t respond at all–even though I send a follow-up email. Then I have to move down to the next person on the list and again wait several days for them to respond. Meanwhile, you’re waiting to find out who won.

To decrease the waiting time, the winners will have only three days to get back to me.

On Wednesday, March 22, I will email the three winners. They will have until 7 p.m. Friday, March 24, to respond. If they don’t respond by then, I will go down the list to the next person, who will have until 7 p.m. Monday, March 27 to respond.

I hope this will decrease how long you have to wait to find out who won and keep the prize drawing exciting!

This year’s prizes

If you are one of the three lucky winners, here’s what you’ll get:

• A Big Yellow Bag containing a full cubic yard of great soil delivered to your home from Lakeside Sod, 6660 Goodrich Rd., Clarence Center.
• A gift basket full of items any gardener would love, plus a $20 gift certificate from Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses, 118 South Forest Rd., Williamsville. (Items will vary.)
• A hanging floral chime (assorted colors), a set of dishtowels and a $20 gift certificate from Urban Roots Cooperative Garden Market, 428 Rhode Island St., Buffalo.
• A soy candle made by Buffawix Candle Co., along with a $30 gift certificate from Lockwood’s Garden Center, 4484 Clark St., Hamburg.
• A one-year family membership to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. If you are already a Botanical Gardens member, your membership will be extended one year!

Three winners will be selected at random from our list of subscribers. Each winner will receive all of the prizes: the Big Yellow Bag, the gardener’s gift basket, the wind chime and towels, the soy candle, the Botanical Gardens membership and the gift certificates!

The deadline to enter is Tuesday, March 21.

Please tell your gardening friends to subscribe today so they’ll be entered in this fabulous contest, too! Share the news on Facebook , Instagram, Nextdoor and other social media.

Official contest rules for the spring 2023 prize package

1. To enter, subscribe to Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com. If you are already subscribed, you are already entered.

2. The last day to enter is Tuesday, March 21, 2023.

3. The winners will be chosen by random on Wednesday, March 22, 2023 from all subscribers who meet the qualifications.

4. To qualify, the entry must include a working email address. If the email address is a nonexistent address, if Constant Contact is blocked by the user, if the user’s mailbox is full or if there is some other impediment to the user being reached by Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com via email, the entry will be disqualified.

5. If you are chosen as a winner, you will be notified via email by Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com.

6. You must respond to the email by 7 p.m. Friday, March 24, 2023 to let us know that you have received the notification and are prepared to pick up your prizes. If we don’t hear from you by 7 p.m. Friday, March 24, we will choose another winner.

7. We will ask you to respond with your name and the town you live in so that we can use your name and town in an article in an upcoming edition of Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com announcing that you were a winner as well as in other promotions. Winners must agree to the use of their names and town for promotion purposes. We won’t share your street address or email address.

8. You must pick up your prizes at the various locations that are providing the prizes by the date specified:

• Schedule delivery of the Lakeside Sod Big Yellow Bag by calling Lakeside Sod at 716-741-2877 no later than Saturday, May 28, 2023. You must be within Lakeside Sod’s delivery area to receive the prize.
• Pick up the Lockwood’s prize at Lockwood’s Garden Center, 4484 Clark St., Hamburg, NY. Pick up the prize by Saturday, May 6, 2023.
• Pick up the Mischler’s prize at Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses, 118 South Forest Rd., Williamsville, NY. Pick up the prize by Saturday, May 6, 2023. Please call Mischler’s at 716-632-1290 before you stop by.
• Pick up the Urban Roots prize at Urban Roots Cooperative Garden Market, 428 Rhode Island St., Buffalo. Pick up the prize by Saturday, May 6, 2023.
• The membership to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens will be sent to you via U.S. postal mail. When we email you to notify you that you are a winner, we will ask you for your postal mailing address.

9. Each winner will receive a Big Yellow Bag containing a full cubic yard of soil from Lakeside Sod; a gift basket of gardening supplies and a $20 gift certificate from Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses; a hanging floral chime (assorted colors), a set of dishtowels, and a $20 gift certificate from Urban Roots Cooperative Garden Market; a soy candle made by Buffawix Candle Co., along with a $30 gift certificate from Lockwood’s Garden Center, and a one-year family membership to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. If you are already a Botanical Gardens member, your membership will be extended one year. Each of the three prize packages is worth approximately $450.

10. Winners from previous years cannot win again. No person can win more than once.

11. All taxes relative to the prize package are the sole responsibility of the winner. No prize substitutions, assignments or transfers. No cash equivalents.

12. No purchase is necessary to enter or win. All federal, state, local and municipal laws apply. Void where prohibited.

13. The contest is open to everyone with the exception of employees of Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com, Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses, Lockwood’s Garden Center, Lakeside Sod, the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens and Urban Roots Cooperative Garden Market.

14. This contest is sponsored by Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com. By participating, all entrants acknowledge and agree that they have entered the contest of their own free will, that the full rules and details of the contest have been made available to them in writing and they therefore understand and agree that Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com, Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses, Lockwood’s Garden Center, the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, Lakeside Sod, Urban Roots Cooperative Garden Market, their agents, affiliates, sponsors, representatives or employees do not have any liability with respect to any damages out of acceptance and use of a prize. By entering this promotion, participants agree to be bound by these rules.