Residents invited to support through Bud, Spud and Steak Dinner
Selkirk’s Communities in Bloom committee supports many initiatives that make our community a greener place. This year they are busy working on upgrades to the Water Tower Garden, continuing to work with our local schools and at the end of the month they will be hosting a Bud, Spud, and Steak dinner so that the community can support their efforts.
“Our main goal is to foster civic pride. We basically do that through community involvement and enhancing green spaces throughout the city,” said Taylor Gyselinck, president of Selkirk’s Communities in Bloom.
Residents will likely know of Communities in Bloom’s Yard of the Week initiative which highlights a local resident’s yard every week in the summer but that’s not all that they do to give back.
Annually, Communities in Bloom works with five schools to teach kids how easy it is to grow food in our region’s climate. This school garden program started as a pilot program two years ago and took off. They plan to continue this work this spring.
“What we do is through Communities in Bloom, we purchase all of the materials from Home Hardware for the schools to build garden plots. We also donate any vegetable plants and any seeds they need and the teachers work with me at The Flower Child. They send me a wish list of what they want to grow with their students for the season and we donate all of the plants and help make that happen,” said Gyselinck.
She says that the teachers and students have done amazing work over these past few years and they hope to continue to expand this program.
“I’d also like to put the call out to any daycares, or any schools that are looking for vegetable plant donations, or trying to expand their gardening programs to reach out to us at Communities in Bloom because we’d love to come put on workshops in their classes or help provide them with classes and stuff to help them get growing,” said Gyselinck.
The students don’t get all the fun, however, as in 2019 they took over the administration of the water tower garden and have upgraded and expanded the community garden plot program.
“The wood was all rotten and they were all falling apart. The soil was no good. That year, we replaced the original plots. They were all built completely brand new from scratch. That was in 2019. I’ve been the garden coordinator since, and we’ve now grown the community gardens to 40 plots. Even for this year, the garden plots filled up and by the end of January, I had a waitlist,” said Gyselinck.
Communities in Bloom’s garden plots at the Water Tower Garden are different than other community garden plot programs. Unlike other cities and towns, they provide the garden plots free to residents who sign up.
“It’s really become like a really nice community. We have quite a few returning plot holders every year and it’s really nice to see,” said Gyselinck.
She says that the community is quite varied but by not charging for plots it allows everyone the opportunity to participate.
“We have seniors who used to live in big yards and then now have downsized into apartments in different senior assisted living throughout Selkirk and now they have a place to still enjoy their gardens. [We have seen] new residents in Selkirk that have moved to the Vaughan area developments and apartments. We also have a lot of people from the Broad Street apartments both on Sophia and Manitoba and a lot of members from the Lions Center or from the Kiwanis and all throughout town,” said Gyselinck.
As with every year the garden will need some maintenance to get it ready for gardeners.
“We have our annual maintenance repair costs. We’re also looking to add another water tote at the community gardens, as well as, we’re hoping, we might not have time this year, but we want to expand the community gardens to add more plots. We’re also actively looking for another space within town to start a second community garden,” said Gyselinck.
As the Communities in Bloom committee is a non-profit in our community, they have to fundraise in order to provide these services to residents. They’ve tried many different types of fundraisers over the years and received wonderful support from businesses like Home Hardware but this year they want to do more and so are hosting a Bud, Spud and Steak Dinner at the Legion.
“We’re trying a different way to fundraise for the community which involves the community more as well in our fundraising. [We also want to] make it more well-known what we do and about the plans for community gardens so that way we’re able to keep it free to residents and Selkirk,” said Gyselinck.
The Bud, Spud and Steak Dinner will take plan on April 23 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $30 and residents can call 204-218-0107 or email selkirkcommunitygardens@gmail.com to grab one.
“One hundred per cent of the proceeds are going back into our community, whether it’s through the school garden plot program, or the community garden this spring. It’s going to be a really fun night. We have a 50/50 draw. We’re going to have some awesome door prizes. It’s a nice way to meet members of your community as well as some of the plot holders who enjoy growing,” said Gyselinck.
People who would like to support but can’t make it to the dinner event can also call or email Gyselinck in order to purchase a support ticket.
She also welcomes anyone who would like to get involved in volunteering with Communties in Bloom to connect with her.
“It’s really important to support each other. Communities in Bloom’s main goal is to foster community involvement. And in a smaller city, it’s great to all be there to support each other, through these events to help make Selkirk a better place for everyone and to continue having some really cool amenities,” said Gyselinck.
