Non-profit partners and the community near Rabanus Park invite residents to celebrate the end of construction at World Garden Commons on August 5 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. The garden is located at 4315 18th Ave. S.
A variety of ecological and cultural activities are planned characterizing “Prairie for the People.” The activities show the importance of community connection, nature, natural resources and the creative expressions of cultures as World Garden Commons is a greenspace that reflects the cultural vibrancy of the Fargo community.
Celebration activities include:
- The Native American Commission’s Mini Powwow welcomes the community to join dancers, singers, drummers and anyone who wants to dance to inter-tribal songs. Grand Entry will be at 5:15 p.m. and everyone is welcome to participate, with or without regalia.
- Growing Together community garden ministry volunteers will host garden tours, provide a short planting workshop, offer samples of produce and face painting for children.
- The New American Consortium for Wellness and Empowerment will host world music and an art project where attendees can make pinwheels to catch the prairie wind.
- The Arts Partnership will host the Kindness Rocks Project with Dina Schulz, which encourages people to leave rocks painted with inspiring messages along the path of life.
- Buzz Lab interns will bring the Mobile HIVE to the “Prairie for the People” celebration and will host a photo booth to capture the fun and activities.
- River Keepers invite attendees to participate in a scavenger hunt, be a part of an incredible water journey and taste catfish, which is the most popular game fish in the Red River.
The World Garden Commons at Rabanus Park is the result of the community’s design that transforms an urban storm water basin into prairie, wildflower and wet meadows with environmental learning labs, walking trails, gathering places for celebrations and cultural festivals and nature observation areas.
With water as the vehicle for connecting people to the land, the approach and process for the design of the site activated a collective creative agency. Artists, neighbors, engineers, landscape architects and ecologists worked together to develop a solution to transform the neighborhood storm water basin to fit unique needs as a community. World Common Gardens, the pilot site for The Fargo Project, is underwritten by ArtPlace of America, the Kresge Foundation National Endowment for the Arts, North Dakotas’ Outdoor Heritage Fund, the Plains Art Museum and the City of Fargo.
The Fargo Project, led by internationally renowned artist Jackie Brookner (1945-2015), incorporates community involvement through creative placemaking and a community-design process seeped in the arts, culture and belonging to enliven and enrich a community and for the ecological restoration of a functional storm water basin. Find a list of activities and partners at www.thefargoproject.com.