On Saturday, August 14 at LaBonte Park, Feeding Laramie Valley will host its seventh annual Food and Fun in the Park event from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM.
Feeding Laramie Valley, a community-based food sovereignty nonprofit organization, has been promoting access to healthy food for the community since 2009.
“We do that through a bunch of different programs aimed at different demographics and needs,” community outreach program assistant Ruby Novogrodsky said.
Programs include Shares, in which participants pick up a weekly shares bag with fresh produce and recipes and Kids Out to Dinner, in which free meals and activities are provided for children each Friday from September to December.
“We try to do as much as we can through local providers of food. We encourage more sustainable agriculture and food distribution,” Novogrodsky said.
“There’s no qualifications or paperwork for any of these programs because we really want to make it as accessible as possible and encourage people to participate.”
Novogrodsky and event development summer associate Gaby Thomas, who both volunteer through the AmeriCorps VISTA program, worked hard to plan Food and Fun in the Park.
“On one hand it’s the physical preparation, and so we have constructed an obstacle course and made signs and filled popsicles,” said Thomas.
“There’s a lot of logistics as well. From the get-go, Ruby and I have talked about what the menu is going to look like and how many volunteers we need and who we need to get in contact with for permits in LaBonte Park.”
Thomas said that social media promotion was also part of the planning process and there was plenty of room for creative input.
“There’s been a lot of different processes for different aspects. My job has been a lot of the outward facing outreach,” Novogrodsky said.
“We’ve also done a lot of menu planning, volunteer recruitment and training because it takes so many people to make it happen, and we’re so thrilled and grateful to all of our volunteers.”
Food and Fun in the Park will feature an obstacle course, a bubble pop game, two different scavenger hunts for different ages, and live music and entertainment, as well as a raffle for two quilts donated by Sagebrush Quilters.
There will also be a llama petting zoo and agility demonstration featuring founder and director of Feeding Laramie Valley Gayle Woodsum’s own llamas.
A free lunch will be provided at Food and Fun in the Park including Pancit, a Filipino noodle dish; lettuce wraps with chicken or tofu, and fruit popsicles.
Thomas said she is most looking forward to seeing the community get to try Pancit.
“One of the meals is a Filipino inspired dish, and my grandma is Filipino so I was the one that proposed that,” Thomas said. “I’m really excited to see that dish that I grew up with get shared with the Laramie community that comes and enjoys the meal.”
Novogrodsky said that working with community members to make the event happen has been her favorite part of the process.
“I’ve really enjoyed just working with all of the community members that are going to be there,” Novogrodsky said.
“I’ve just loved sitting at the front desk and seeing people come in excited about the process and telling them about it. People with kids, college students, it’s really for people of all ages and interests.”
Thomas and Novogrodsky said that having an outdoor event like Food and Fun in the Park is a great way to achieve community togetherness while adhering to COVID safety guidelines.
“We’re just trying to celebrate the fact that we can be together again as long as we’re doing it safely. The goal is to feed the community and celebrate the end of summer,” Novogrodsky said.
“It is a way of educating the Laramie community about our food sovereignty efforts and just reaching a wider audience than we might with normal advertising efforts.”
“I think for any year it’s really important because it allows a space to come together as a community where there’s not the pressures of a financial burden or driving super far. It’s a local community park that is walkable for a lot of people, and the events are really family friendly,” said Thomas.
“It’s especially important during a COVID year, having a place that’s outdoors and we’re really trying to make it touch-free. We have this way to come together in a time that’s been really stressful for the community. It’s really important to us.”
For more information on Feeding Laramie Valley and the upcoming Food and Fun in the Park event, please visit their website at the following link. https://www.feedinglaramievalley.org
