Correspondent photo / Maurita Hoffman Marcy Dubec, the garden director at Fellows Riverside Gardens, also plays in a local Irish band, County Mayo.
Marcy Dubec has many talents. She plays flute, pipes and pipes in the Irish band County Mayo. She once owned a stained glass window repair business. And as the current garden director at Fellows Riverside Gardens, she is a brilliant floral arrangement expert.
Dubec grew up in Youngstown and graduated from Cardinal Mooney High School in 1980. She earned her bachelor's degree in business administration and graphic design from Youngstown State University in 1987. She returned to YSU in 2005 and received an associate degree in horticulture.
During the summer between her junior and senior years of high school, Dubec spent six weeks in Ireland. She said the Irish Way Project took place in County Meath, Ireland. The training included economics courses, finance and Irish history. She admitted that this stay in Ireland, in addition to her own Irish heritage, increased her interest in Irish music.
While at YSU, Dubec met Mary Beth Choppa and Mike Shaefer and formed an Irish band, the Seanachais, in the early '80s.
She said the group would play at festivals, churches, schools and “of course on St. Patrick's Day.” The whole thing was very informal. The group first hosted “Seisiuns” – jam sessions featuring traditional Irish music – at St. Rose Church in Girard. Dubec said they were “not organized groups – we just got together and played.”
During one of these events she met Ted Miller.
Together with Bill Lewis they founded the popular local Irish band County Mayo about 36 years ago. She said the band “booked up quickly for St. Patrick's Day” and they would then play “several times a week.”
She noted that summer is also a busy time for the band.
Dubec explained that the instrument she plays for County Mayo, the flute, was not her first choice as a child.
“When I was in school I really wanted to play drums, but mom said 'no,'” she said.
So Dubec chose three of the smaller instruments. She said she had always been in “some band” since fourth grade.
She took private lessons with Al Caldron, then principal clarinetist of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.
As for what she likes best about County Mayo, Dubec was quick to say: “I like the music.” She added that she enjoys performing in all sorts of places and events.
“We played in churches, at an office meeting at a law firm, at festivals and of course at St. Patrick's Day events,” she explained.
As a graphic design student, music isn't the only art that interests Dubec. For several years, she and her late husband, Ron Dubec, owned a business that manufactured and repaired stained glass designs. Ron died in 1994 and eventually, Dubec said, “A lot of the markets for stained glass have dried up.”
She said she continued to do some repairs on stained glass products but went into the antiques business with Bill Heckman until his death. Dubec said she still does stained glass repairs in her free time.
When a friend urged Dubec to sign up for gardening masterclasses at Mill Creek Park, Dubec was happy to do so, remarking, “I've always loved gardening.”
Dubec explained that “part of the class requirement was to volunteer 40 hours in the garden area,” and since the class was held at the Fellows Riverside Gardens, Dubec met her volunteer time requirement at the site.
“I just continued to volunteer there,” she said.
In 2002, Dubec was hired as a seasonal gardener. In 2005, she returned to YSU to study horticulture and was then hired as the Gardens' full-time director of gardening.
Her tasks include, among other things, designing the annual beds and the flower bulb beds.
There are “14 annual beds with 30,000 to 40,000 plants,” she said. Designing the beds for bulbs – including tulips, daffodils, etc. – also includes the same stunning number of bulbs.
“All the bulbs are laid out in the garden beds in specific rows in specific colors that change every year,” Dubec explained.
She plants the flowers with the help of others, but is responsible for the design, including layout and colors.
“It’s not just about thinking and designing, I’m also involved in maintaining the garden,” Dubec said.
She said she enjoys the process of “starting seeds, trimming and caring for the plants in the greenhouse.”
A larger greenhouse and kindergarten area is planned for spring 2026.
“There will be a sensory garden and a vegetable garden,” Dubec said. “It will be fun and educational for the kids.”