BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. – Let’s Move! Blue Springs will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the City’s first community garden on Thursday, October 13 at 8:30 a.m. The Blue Springs Community Garden is located in Central Park on the corner of Walnut and 10th Street.
“This groundbreaking marks an important step in making community gardens available to all our residents to enjoy,” Mayor Carson Ross said. “This new Blue Springs Community Garden is a shared effort and will help add vibrancy and aesthetic appeal to the City. Community gardening provides great physical activity, increases access to affordable healthy fresh produce, and brings our residents closer together.”
Approximately 35 plots and 5 raised plant beds will be available to residents for rent for the 2012 grow season. The 2012 grow season will be spring through fall, dates to be determined. The community garden will have water access and participants will be able to plant both vegetables and flowers in their plots. Plots will be available on a first-come-first-served basis.
“This community garden was something that ranked as a high-priority in the Let’s Move! Citizen Summits conducted by StandUp Blue Springs this summer,” said Dave Wright, President of StandUp Blue Springs and Chair of the Blue Springs Let’s Move! Steering Committee. “This is an amazing example of what citizens pulling together to address a common cause can accomplish and will most certainly yield great benefits for Blue Springs and its residents.”
Mayor Carson Ross, Dave Wright, StandUp Blue Springs and Dena McLean, Blue Springs Park Commission Chairman will participate in the groundbreaking ceremony, along with other community leaders.
“I am excited about this partnership between Let’s Move! Blue Springs and the Park Commission, and the opportunity to bring this wonderful asset to downtown Blue Springs,” said Dena McLean. “This garden fills a need in the community and provides a great use of Central Park.”
If you are interested in renting a plot in the Blue Springs Community Garden, contact Parks and Recreation at (816) 228-0137 for more information.
The Blue Springs Community Garden is a joint effort between the City of Blue Springs, Mo., Let’s Move! Community Garden Committee, StandUp Blue Springs, the University of Missouri Extension Office and the Boy Scout Troup 58 and 332 Eagle Scout Projects.
About Let’s Move! Blue Springs
At the July 9 Citizen Summit facilitated by StandUp Blue Springs, participants prioritized more than 150 ideas that were generated in the June 18 Summit. Through a multi-voting approach the group narrowed the list to these initial project ideas.
The project ideas are:
• Backpack Food program
• Children’s Triathlon
• Community Gardening
• Community 5K Training
• Expansion of Girls on the Run in Blue Springs
• Healthy Schools
• Let's Move! Saturdays
• Livable Streets
• Let's Move! Marketing and Public Relations
Residents are encouraged to join these workgroups by calling StandUp Blue Springs at (816) 478-4500 or emailing LetsMove@StandUpBlueSprings.org. Several workgroups are seeking additional members
Blue Springs was officially designated as a Let’s Move! Community in March 2011. The Let’s Move! Blue Springs initiative is part of a national effort to raise healthier generations of citizens. This initiative is a comprehensive approach to engage the many sectors that reach children, including parents, families, schools, community leaders, municipalities and businesses. The Let’s Move! goals are based on four pillars: 1) make healthy family choices, 2) create healthy schools, 3) provide access to healthy, affordable food; and 4) promote physical activity.
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