2. Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year,
the Flamingo has broken new ground yet
again, albeit with sustainability, wellness, and
employee engagement at heart. Created by
team members for team members, a garden
oasis has grown from a small plot of unused
land just behind the Flamingo’s Paradise Buffet.
Envisioned, designed, and tended entirely
by passionate and creative members of the
Cromwell, LINQ, and Flamingo culinary teams,
the plot has been transformed into a fertile
garden, producing flowers, herbs, fruits and
vegetables, some of which will eventually be
donated to local charities upon harvest.
The garden supports a wide range of fragrant
flowers that grow alongside culinary herbs of
lavender, basil, thyme and cilantro, in a delicate
balance with hearty vegetables such as fennel,
broccoli, brussel sprouts tomatoes, rainbow
carrots, kale and pole beans, just to name a few.
In addition to producing food and flowers, the garden
now serves as a peaceful backdrop for a host of potential
activities. During shift breaks, all team members are now
able to enjoy a new tranquil space away from the hurried
hum of the hotel and the casino. The hopes of the garden
team are that perhaps one day internal meetings, classes, or
even a farmer’s market may find a home here.
3. This project also serves as living, working
extension of Caesar’s Entertainment’s CodeGreen
commitment to recycling and sustainability. Egg
shells, coffee grounds, and old shipping crates have
found new purpose among the communal sitting
and board game areas in the center of the new
garden. Perishables otherwise wasted in landfills
become fertilizer and natural repellents here. Baby
strawberries can already be seen peeking through
slats of old shipping palettes alongside wooden
walkways of other repurposed things. Pretty vistas
of white and purple flowers dance in the reflections
of old wine bottles that decorate flourishing earth
beds. Bright colors from old paint gives new life to
wooden wire spindle tables and rock game pieces,
making checkers a pastime of choice here.
The proud team who created this garden has
tapped into a growing trend among today’s more
forward-thinking companies. Employers with the
resources to provide such outlets to their team
members understand that everyone reaps benefits
from a garden at work.
4. Employers know that the produce donated to
local charities is significant, yet secondary to the
real bounty found here. A work garden is unlike
any other employee-based engagement activity
in that it supports the widest scope of values
found at the core of most companies today.
Sustainability, team building, wellness, integrity,
pride, ownership and diversity are all fostered in a
garden such as the one found at The Flamingo.
Sustainability is celebrated through recycling in
this garden. Diversity, integrity and ownership
are embraced through team building as team
members work together in a common passion.
Anyone who has ever tended a garden can
attest to the wellness benefits to mind, body,
and soul from working in the earth and caring
for growing things. Stress reduction, anxiety
control, anger management, and blood pressure
reduction all occur in gardens, whether one is
tilling the soil or simply watching finches dart
between okra plants and petunias.
Though the flora and fauna on display are a
sight to behold, pride is perhaps the most visible
attribute of this space. Care and craftsmanship are
as evident as the fresh blooms here. With help
from the property’s talented painters, carpenters
and gardeners, and with the efforts and support
from several other departments as well, the
culinary team has brought something truly special
to life at the Flamingo-a living thing for all to enjoy,
a garden of pride.
