The Glide Wildflower Show began as a fund-raising project. The Glide Community Club needed to raise money for maintenance of its building, the former high school gym which was moved to its present location in 1958. Three club members – Audrey Young, Mona Riley, and Reggie Miller – suggested a benefit including a wildflower slide show presented by Reggie.

But Reggie, a member of the North Umpqua Garden Club, had always wanted to do a wildflower show. In three days, she collected 71 specimens around her home on Buckhorn Road, arranged them in vases, and labeled them with botanical and common names. The benefit was held in the newly opened Idleyld Lodge, hosted by owners Mr. and Mrs. James Hanson. Thirty-five people attended the show, enjoyed it, and raved to their friends.

The following year Reggie was invited to repeat her performance. The show was moved to the Glide Community Center and scheduled for the last weekend in April, when the greatest number of blossoms would be available. Reggie and several volunteers collected 91 specimens and put on the show, but only 25 people came to see it. Discouraged, the volunteers wanted to give up the idea. However, after discussing publicity and promotion, the Community Club voted to try for one more year.

In 1967, Reggie and her crew of volunteers exhibited 191 varieties of wildflowers. The improved publicity brought 400 guests from Oregon, Washington, California, Alaska, and Arizona. The Portland Journal published a glowing notice, which attracted the attention of the Native Plant Society of Portland. Forty society members came en masse by bus to attend the show. The first offers of botanical assistance arrived too, in the persons of Mildred Thiele, Lois Hopkins, and Joan Fosback, developers of the Douglas County Museum Herbarium, who helped collect and identify specimens.

Unquestionably, Reggie Miller was the dynamo that drove those early shows. The Glide Community Club unanimously agreed that as a tribute to Reggie, the show should be named in her honor. With typical modesty, however, she declined that honor and insisted that the official name should be the Glide Wildflower Show. So the event was named, and it has been held annually the last weekend in April ever since.

In 1968, the volunteers enlarged their collecting range, after obtaining permission from landowners, to include the Siskiyou Mountains and Curry, Coos, Jackson, and Josephine Counties. They gathered 245 specimens from different elevations and microclimates. Local residents joined the effort, volunteering for a variety of tasks such as opening the building, setting up and decorating tables, and keeping a list of the previous year's specimens. A Sunset Magazine article drew 1300 visitors from as far away as London and Amsterdam.

Special exhibits included native trees, lichens, mosses, edible plants, and a fern grotto. The U. S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management presented exhibits. In addition to slide shows, the Society of American Foresters arranged for sightseeing tours of local points of interest.

The early shows had served tea, coffee, and cookies. The Glide Community Club began operating a snack bar featuring local homemade pies, starting a tradition that continues to this day.

Despite rising costs, the Wildflower Show Council was determined to keep admission free to the public. A donation basket was placed unobtrusively at the entrance.

In 1972, collectors gathered 380 specimens, and the show broke all records as 4500 visitors flocked into Glide to see the fabulous wildflower display. The North Umpqua Garden Club offered domestic plants for sale, and the Ladies' Auxiliary of Veterans of Foreign War Post 4316 sold baked goods to raise money for local scholarships.

In the late 1970s,  Students' Day was added to the agenda. On Monday, local elementary school students visit the show and learn about wildflowers through a variety of activities.  As Reggie once said, "To open the eyes of youngsters, to show them some of the small wonders they may find in their own backyards, to learn how to play a part in this environment, to help nurture appreciation, to give promise to our future."

Gorgeous artwork has been linked with the show since its early days. The first publicity posters, were undated and used for multiple years.  Years later the posters, designed by some of the finest artists in the area, have become sought-after souvenirs each year.  

Wildflower photographs have added another dimension to the show, when Roseburg nature photographer Alice Parker donated a large collection of about 500 photographs taken by her and her late husband, Fred Parker. Some images are rare and endangered species which cannot be collected, and others are summer-blooming flowers. Exhibits of these photographs have allowed visitors to experience species that otherwise cannot be seen at the show.

Alice Parker’s wildflower photographs have become a part of the show in another way. In 1998, she made and donated to the show a gorgeous quilt designed with her own wildflower photographs printed onto fabric. The intention was to raffle off the quilt to support the show. However, the Council could not bear to part with such a magnificent quilt and decided to keep it for permanent display. Every year it hangs at the main entrance to be admired by all visitors. It has traveled the region advertising the show, has been used for wildflower show note cards, and in 2006 the show’s poster featured the quilt.

The Glide Wildflower Show has been presented every year but one since 1965, growing to include over 600 species. Reggie Miller died in 1973, but the rich legacy of the show is carried on by the Glide Wildflower Show Council. Over the years, council members have included Mona Riley, Yvonne Knouse, Mary Powell, Audry Young, Mary Carlson, Jean Cross, Jane Talcott, Ina Serafin, Marilyn Sams, and Jeanne Moore. Of all the early council members, Jeanne Moore is the only one still actively involved.

Putting on the show is a huge endeavor. The obvious tasks are collecting, identifying, vasing, and labeling specimens; setting and cleaning up; preparing educational materials; planning and conducting students’ activities; scheduling speakers, handling book sales; and arranging publicity. Behind-the-scenes jobs include purchasing supplies; tracking expenses; filing paperwork and tax returns of a non-profit organization; maintaining this website; researching botanical information; recruiting and training volunteers. Hundreds of volunteers share the work, but organizing and training this small army is a challenge in itself. The entire undertaking is directed by the Glide Wildflower Show Council, up to 11 dedicated and hard-working volunteers.

The Glide Wildflower Show is an amazing community effort emphasizing the richness of our environment. It continues a forty-year tradition of caring and preservation. In the words of Reggie Miller, spoken four decades ago: