By Sarah Lombardo
In an effort to raise money, the Hakone Foundation has begun promoting its facilities at Saratoga's Hakone Gardens as a conference and business retreat center.
The conference facilities are the same ones in which weddings and receptions have been held for years, but now will help the foundation bring in money throughout the year, said Hakone Foundation Treasurer Daryl Becker.
"The reason we are looking at it is that the number of weddings tends to fall off in the winter," Becker said. "This will bring us some income to maintain the staff and upkeep year-round. It makes more business sense."
Becker said the facilities have been updated to include audio-visual equipment and more seating. In the few weeks that the gardens have been wooing businesses, Becker said, they have had a great response.
"We're just starting it, but already we're starting to see some meetings," he said. Becker added that opening the facilities to conferences might also bolster the number of visitors who return to the gardens. "[Holding conferences] is a great way to introduce the garden to people," he said. "Some people come here for a meeting, and they never even knew the place existed."
The favorable response the conference retreat has had among businesses will likely help the foundation in its plan to become independent later this year. Although it has been the goal of the Hakone Foundation to one day take over management of the gardens from the city, which bought the area in 1966 to protect it from development, it only began taking steps toward that goal earlier this year.
The timing, said foundation President Kay Duffy, just seemed right--especially for the city. Self-management of the 16-acre Japanese gardens would save the city almost $140,000 a year in personnel and operations costs, a significant chunk at a time when the city is looking to tighten its budget belt.
Board members met with Interim City Manager Larry Perlin in March to discuss the prospect of the gardens being self-managed. Becker said he felt the discussions went well and that both parties agreed to the idea in concept.
Talks about management changing hands are still ongoing, but Perlin said the city is excited about the idea and that both parties should come to an agreement soon on the specifics of the plan.
The Hakone Gardens include a reproduction of a 19th-century Japanese merchant's home and shop and is home to the Saratoga Bamboo Society, founded in 1980. Some of the original buildings on the grounds date back to 1918.
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This article appeared in the Saratoga News, May 7, 1997.
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