West Laramie has a new food resource following Saturday’s opening of the Kiwanis Park Community Garden.
The garden, built and run by the local nonprofit Feeding Laramie Valley (FLV), held an opening event this weekend to celebrate completion of the three-year project and to encourage locals to sign up early for plots. The opening was well attended, with many Laramie residents exploring their new resource despite breezy winds and chilly temperatures.
“We’re thrilled,” said Katherine Case, the Community Garden Coordinator with FLV. “It’s been a lot of work with the rain and the snow and wind and all of these people have shown up. … To see it all finally come to fruition is kind of awe-inspiring.”
Construction began on the Kiwanis Park community garden roughly three years ago and was done mostly by almost 200 volunteers. FLV still plans to add a composting bin and several more raised beds to the garden after the higher-than-expected turnout at grand opening.
The Kiwanis Park garden consists mainly of raised box plots that Laramie residents can sign up to use as a personal garden space to grow their own fresh produce. The garden also features two ground plots, one FLV will use in its food disbursement programs and another the organization will tend to grow healthy foods for public use.
“We want it to be a place where people can grow their own healthy produce,” said Case. “West Laramie doesn’t have a grocery store, so people here have to always go to the other side of town in order to get any fresh produce. We wanted to not only give them their own space to grow but also a space for them to have a happy, healthy and free outdoor environment.”
The Kiwanis Park garden is also fully accessible to people with disabilities, with ADA-accessible raised beds suitable for anyone using a wheelchair or walker or who has difficulty bending over. The garden also features a spacious layout and three-foot walkways for easy maneuvering throughout. Case said she is also committed to meeting any additional needs that arise, saying “we will do everything we can.”
This emphasis on accessibility is due in part to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), which helped fund the Kiwanis Park garden through a substantial grant awarded to FLV. As a condition for the grant money, the AARP required the garden be built fully accessible to people with disabilities. FLV and Action Resources International, a health and safety nonprofit, provided the remainder of funding for the garden.
“The bulk of the funding was the AARP challenge grant that we got,” said Case. “Once that grant money ran out it’s been Feeding Laramie Valley and Action Resources who stepped up to make sure that we followed through and [could] be a success.”
Due to the temperamental nature of spring in Wyoming, FLV does not recommend that planting in the Kiwanis Park garden begin for another two to three weeks. To check plot availability or to get involved with Laramie’s community gardens, contact Katherine Case with Feeding Laramie Valley by emailing katherine@FeedingLaramieValley.org.
