“Ladybug, ladybug, fly away …”
So goes the children’s nursery rhyme and so goes the Brownwood Area Community Garden’s Spring Festival Saturday, April 16, as thousands of ladybugs gain their freedom and take up residence in the Garden for a summer job of munching on aphids and helping pollinate vegetable crops bound for area food pantries.
The “Ladybug Flyaway” event is just part of the fun at the Spring Festival. Most of the Festival events are geared toward children, including Garden Hat decorating, Paint-and-Plant A Garden Pot, a Kazoo Parade, and face-painting. A special snack treat for those who get hungry will be “Dirt Cups” (a delectable concoction of chocolate pudding and crumbled chocolate cookies, complete with a gummy worm).
More mature festival goers – of any age – can enjoy live music, and refreshments including barbecue sandwiches and sausage-on-a-stick. Drawings will be held for a variety of prizes donated by local retailers.
A series of educational mini-classes will be presented during the Festival, covering such topics as composting with worms, companion planting, kitchen herb gardens, and “Good Bug, Bad Bug.” The Community Garden will also have a selection of garden seed for sale, and tours of the Garden will be ongoing.
“We’re celebrating the start of our second growing season, along with Earth Day, which is April 22,” Freda Day, president of the Community Garden board of directors, said. “And April is National Gardening month. We’ve got a lot to celebrate!”
Keep Brownwood Beautiful volunteers will be on hand to keep the Spring Festival “green” with recyclables containers and litter control.
The Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, April 16, at the Community Garden, located at 1514 Dublin St., behind Central Texas Opportunities offices. Parking is available at the Salvation Army building on Lake Way, between Commerce Street and Belle Plain Avenue.
The Community Garden is a non-profit organization whose primary mission is to provide area food pantries with fresh, naturally grown produce year-round. Last year, in its first growing season, more than 3,000 pounds of produce was donated to the Salvation Army soup kitchen and Good Samaritan Ministries. The Garden also leases garden plots to local families and organizations for a nominal fee, creates job opportunities and on-the-job training for area residents in a “green” industry, and offers a variety of educational events throughout the year.
For additional information, call 325-784-8453.
