Photo courtesy of UW-Madison CALS.
Folks are invited to celebrate Allen Centennial Garden’s abundant and diverse harvest during the garden’s Harvest Festival on Oct. 8.
The event, which runs from noon to 6 p.m. will feature music, dancing and storytelling. You’ll also have a chance to learn about farming and harvest traditions from cultures around the world. The festival is free and open to the public.
The event centers around celebrating Allen Garden’s new kitchen garden project, launched in spring 2022, which features three distinct garden types that come from African American, Indigenous and Hmong cultures. Crops for the kitchen garden project were selected, planted and harvested in consultation with partners from organizations including Groundswell Conservancy, Rooted, Trade Roots, and the Native American Center for Health Professionals.
“It’s exciting to see results of all the hard work with community partners thriving in the garden, and we want to share it with everyone at the Harvest Festival,” says Reba Luiken, director of Allen Centennial Garden. “There’s been such an amazing array of crops growing in the kitchen garden – from celosia to beans to lemongrass – and we encourage everybody to stop by and check it out.”
Attendees of the festival will be treated to performances and presentations by:
Jessika Greendeer, farm manager and seed keeper for Dream of Wild Health
Hmong Heritage Club of Madison
Linmanya Ensemble, West African dance and drum group
Red Thread, vocal trio that will perform Eastern European folk music
Vidar Skrede, Nordic folk musician
Syrena Polish Folk Dance Ensemble
UW–Madison student groups will be on hand during the event to share information about food and garden traditions from numerous cultures, including Hmong and Polish. There will also be a showcase of student research focusing on the importance of harvest festivals to communities across the globe.
See more info: https://allencentennialgarden.wisc.edu/harvest-folk-festival/
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