What a party it would have been! This year marks the 30th Anniversary of GFE and we were ready to celebrate.

When you are a small non-profit in an ever changing city, milestones like this one feel especially important. The last 30 years have not always been easy, but the garden is thriving and blooming and vibrant and we wanted to celebrate!

Our party was originally scheduled for this Saturday, May 16th. After months of preparation and planning, it became clear shortly after the shelter in place order went into effect that we would have to cancel. We plan to celebrate once we can all gather again, and I’m back from maternity leave, but in the meantime, let me tell you about the epic party we planned.

30th Anniversary image designed by artist, sign painter, and garden friend heather hardison

Much like our parties in past years, we would have food from local restaurants, wheelbarrows of beer, live music, a farm stand and that hard to describe garden vibe that lends itself so well to a good time. This year we hoped to partner with local businesses as community sponsors to show the wide support the garden has across the city. We had a party planning team (where our meetings felt like little parties themselves) focused on all aspects of the event and wanted to add some games and activities this year to make it feel even more celebratory.

Volunteers would help us rake every pathway and weed every bed, so the bright vibrant blooms of May would take center stage. We would do our best to clear out the greenhouse and make it look presentable to guests but inevitably, in the rush to get ready, it would get crammed and chaotic.

This year we had our friend and sign painter, Heather Hardison, design an image for our 30th Anniversary. We envisioned it as the invitation and on screen printed posters and tote bags.

We were also working with Get Up! grad and local artist Jordan Kushins, to design our first ever GFE Zine. I’m happy to report this is still happening and should be ready to go in June. This magazine is a collection of essays from longtime garden friends like Pam Peirce, Hilary Gordon and Odin Zackman. It will feature seasonal recipes from some of our talented cook friends. There will be composting tips and GFE historical information, an original poem in two languages, and original illustrations by Jordan. We are so excited to be able to share this with you.

We also planned to gather many of the people who have love and tended the garden over the years back to celebrate with us. Get Up! instructor and owner of Mariposa Gardening, Andrea Hurd, was helping us build a dry stacked stone wall that would house our new carbon sequestration garden. We had an evening planned with people who have known and loved the garden for 30 years to go through old photos and record stories to share with guests at the event.

Like all of our parties it would be informal, celebratory, community oriented, and probably a bit chilly (forecast says 64 and foggy - exactly what we expect for an outdoor event in the sunset!). But this year we hoped to infuse it with something extra special and share our community just how far this space has come.

While we will not be celebrating with you all in person this Saturday, we are celebrating our 30 years of gardening all week on the blog. And, when the time comes to gather again as a community, we will be throwing our 30th Anniversary bash - just perhaps a year late.

Hope to see you there,

Maggie

spring garden party june 2019 - originally rescheduled because of unexpected may rain, this was our hottest party on record

20th anniversary celebration image (designed by sabina nieto) - september 2010

Growing Gardeners

Our 30th Anniversary Party: What We Planned