Photo by Sally Phnouk
Last Friday on a warm, breezy May afternoon, Marra Farm, South Park’s community-run farm, saw some hustle and bustle with kids painting, planting flowers, stuffing scarecrows and running around playing games. Healthy Foods for South Park, the partnership of our very own ECOSS, Solid Ground’s Lettuce Link, and the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice, hosted a mural painting event at Marra Farm in South Park. The event was a success, with over 80 people, students and families from South Park, showing up for the festivities.
We have had the event in the works since March when we went to Concord for our healthy foods art contest. Only 20 pieces of art were chosen for the mural design, however, we have displayed the students’ artwork at the South Park bridge opening Cinco de Mayo event. We also plan to display all the artwork at Market Night, May 26th at Concord and various pieces at the South Park library. Check them out as you walk by on the corner of Cloverdale and 8th Ave.
Some highlights from the mural event include planting flowers into old shoes, stuffing
Finished Mural
scarecrows with old t-shirts and the best part of all, munching down on some healthy snacks, guest appearance by a bag of yellow baby carrots. We had a group of woman called the Service Girls volunteer to supervise the painting chaos. They excelled at maintaining peace and order, and, above all, keeping the paints organized. Not an easy task with over 20 kids painting at the same time! One member of their team actually helped fund raise for the shipping container the previous year, having her service at the farm come full circle! Other help we had included an interested sustainable agriculture student from all the way up near Lynwood, and AppleCorps members, a program of Solid Ground that collaborates with schools, community groups and local organizations to educate children about nutrition and physical activity.
Photo by Sally Phnouk
On our end, the Healthy Foods for South Park crew, the event was a chance to meet the community and start a conversation about healthy foods with interested community members, brainstorming ideas on how to improve the current food conditions in the neighborhood. We will be at Market Night at Concord International Elementary School Thursday, May 26th. If you plan to attend the event, come talk to us! We love to hear what people in the neighborhood have to say about healthy food, access to it and ideas to increase its visibility.