Earth Day Festival helps build community

Come out and get to know what’s going on in your city and neighborhood on Saturday at the first ever Earth Day Community Building Festival.

Held from 11 am to 4 pm at the Earl Haig Community Garden, 101 Market St. South, the event, hosted by Equal Ground Community Gardens, will include more than 70 vendors representing local clubs, organizations, teams, businesses and offering food.

There will be live music and activities at the free event.

“It gives residents a chance to explore what’s happening locally,” said Taylor Edwards, Equal Garden’s greenhouse and learning center coordinator.

Demonstrations will be offered by, among others, Brant Disc Golf Club, the Brantford International Ball Hockey Association, and the Brantford Fire Department. Visitors can get in on some line dancing and children can make their way through an obstacle course.

“The festival helps connect visitors with city resources and volunteer opportunities,” said Edwards. It’s also a place where vendors can network with each other.

Edwards said Equal Ground, like other local organizations, has had difficulty bringing up its volunteer base to pre-pandemic levels.

Earl Haig is the largest of all Equal Ground’s community gardens, with 74 beds. Prior to the pandemic, she said the site was bustling with volunteers tending the gardens. Now it’s more difficult to get people out.

“I know that ward (five) is passionate about keeping it,” said Edwards.

Saturday was intended to be the grand opening of a new greenhouse at the Earl Haig site.

Brantford city council agreed instead to spend $400,000 to prepare a site and install a greenhouse at Woodman Park.

The Earl Haig community garden has been established for years. Concerns were raised by some councilors when the Equal Ground Community Gardens Group, which operates 29 gardens across the city and County of Brant, proposed installing a greenhouse there.

Some councilors feel there is going to be a lot of pressure on Earl Haig property, owned by the city, to be developed sometime in the future and didn’t want the greenhouse to have to be moved once it’s in place.

The Earl Haig garden will continue to operate until another use is confirmed for the land.

Edwards said there more than 50 volunteers helping with Saturday’s inaugural Community Building Festival, which she hopes will become an annual event.