Members of the Rockland Community Garden held their inaugural Growing Green Fair over the weekend, and organizers are touting the event as a rousing success.
Held on Sunday, March 3, in the gymnasium of L’Escale secondary school, the event showcased over 50 vendors and community groups holding seminars and workshops throughout the day. The event was organized with the purpose of being an educational fundraising event in support of the Rockland Community Garden.
Stephaine Howard, a coordinator of the Growing Green Fair and member of the Rockland Community Garden team, noted the event attracted more than 200 attendees.
“We were pleasantly surprised,” she said. “It was really a lot of word of mouth, with people spreading the word on their social media networks. It proved to be a really big draw.”
Howard said the demand was there to have such an event, as gardening enthusiasts got the chance to take part in a dozen or so workshops and seminars over the course of the day.
Participants learned how to grow a flourishing kitchen garden, about organic pest control, conserving vegetables, foraging and how important trees are for community well-being.
“A lot of events like these are in Ottawa, and outside of our community and aren’t accessible to people that live in our region,” added Howard. “We wanted to give an opportunity to people in our community to learn more about sustainable living beyond growing their food.”
Howard said organizers have sent surveys to participating vendors and community groups, and the feedback will help them determine the future of the event.
“Early comments from people were very positive,” said Howard. “Vendors were happy and people who walked through the doors were happy there was a chance to learn more about gardening.”
Revenues from the event are going towards the Rockland Community Garden’s food bank donation and youth programs during the growing season.
