BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:Pacific/Honolulu X-WR-TIMEZONE:Pacific/Honolulu BEGIN:VEVENT UID:34-20197@honolulu.gov DTSTART;TZID=Pacific/Honolulu:20250913T100000 DTEND;TZID=Pacific/Honolulu:20250913T140000 DTSTAMP:20250825T203437Z URL:https://www.honolulu.gov/dpr/events/celebrate-50-years-of-community-ga rdens/ SUMMARY:Celebrate 50 years of Community Gardens! DESCRIPTION:You're invited to celebrate the golden anniversary of the Honol ulu Recreational Community Gardening Program in your City parks and garden s this September!\nWe are proud to announce a special celebration event ma rking the 50th anniversary of this beloved program on Saturday\, September 13\, 2025 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the illustrious Foster Botanical Gard en.\nAdmission to the event and garden are free\, with the celebration fea turing: educational displays\, demonstrations\, garden tours\, entertainme nt\, food\, and of course lots of greenery. Learn more about event parking and read Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s proclamation declaring September as “Honolulu Community Gardening Month” by visiting the celebration’s w ebsite: www.honolulu.gov/dpr/hrcgp-50th-anniversary-event/\n\n“Keep Grow ing” is the theme of this 50th anniversary celebration\, as we nurture g rowth amongst gardeners and the program itself. DPR’s efforts to enhance the community gardening program are already taking root\, with recent inv estments in staffing\, community outreach\, revised program rules\, and pl ans for new community gardens. This growth is vitally important as the dem and for community gardening space has blossomed\, with wait times for new gardeners to join the program\, and receive a plot of their own\, lasting up to three years.\n\nThe community gardening program was founded in 1975 under Mayor Frank Fasi’s Administration\, with the first community garde n located in Makiki District Park.  Since then\, the community gardening program has grown to 11 communities on O‘ahu. Each garden has its own un ique character\, with more than 2\,000 gardeners actively engaged in growi ng vegetables\, herbs\, flowers\, and other bio-diverse greenery. Communit y gardening isn’t just about growing plants\, but also growing relations hips and community. In addition to the harvests that their garden plots yi eld\, gardeners enjoy: social interaction\, creative problem solving\, rec reational opportunities\, and exercise in our parks.\n\nThis program is ad ministered by DPR and led by teams of volunteers who facilitate garden mee tings\, workdays\, coordinate special projects\, and communicate with neig hborhood organizations about common concerns. Their goal is to be an integ ral element of our City parks\, as they share these public spaces with a d iverse community of park users.\n\nYou can also be part of helping unearth the hidden history of our community gardens! To further our historical un derstanding of this program\, we are requesting former gardeners\, their f amily members\, and community members to share their memories or photograp hs of the community gardens. We have decades of history that we would like to preserve! Community gardens have hosted gardening education programs\, guest speakers\, volunteer projects\, meet-ups\, and so much more. We wou ld like to document and preserve these stories as part of the community ga rdens’ living culture. If you would like to contribute to this living hi story\, please contact communitygardens@honolulu.gov\n\nJoin the community gardening ‘ohana and help celebrate 50 years of going green on Septembe r 13!\n\n \; ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.honolulu.gov/dpr/wp-content/uploads/ sites/34/2025/08/HCG-50th-flier-scaled.png CATEGORIES:Department of Parks and Recreation LOCATION:Foster Botanical Garden\, 180 N. Vineyard Blvd. \, Honolulu\, HI\, United States X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=180 N. Vineyard Blvd. \, Ho nolulu\, HI\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Foster Botanical Ga rden:geo:0,0 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Pacific/Honolulu X-LIC-LOCATION:Pacific/Honolulu BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20240913T100000 TZOFFSETFROM:-1000 TZOFFSETTO:-1000 TZNAME:HST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR