4^th East Garden: Full Overview

One of our Community Gardens, located as 553 S. 400 E., has been leased from a private landowner for about 25 years. The owner informed us of his intention to sell, and we worked to raise funds and submitted a bid to purchase the property. Many hours of staff and volunteer time during the last several months have gone towards seeking a solution that would enable WCG to secure the location of the 4th East Garden. However, Wasatch Community Gardens was out-bid and the land was purchased by another non-profit, the Community Development Corporation of Utah, in the spring of 2007. The land is slated for development into residential housing units.

The new owner has chosen to allow one final season to give the gardeners and the organization time to find and move to a new garden location. The 4th East Garden has provided gardening space to about 25 Gardeners each year, who begin their final season of growing vegetables, fruits and flowers at the urban oasis this Spring. The 4th East Garden has thrived for an amazing 25 years in the central city, providing green space, social connections and food for neighbors of the garden. While a community garden is deeply rooted in its location and community and can never truly be relocated or replaced, we hope to establish a new space in central Salt Lake to serve as a community garden for the 2008 season. Contributions toward the establishment of another community garden space are being accepted.

Press Release

As final season begins, gardeners say ‘goodbye’ to twenty-five year old Salt Lake community garden

Date: Saturday, March 24, 2007

Time: 1:30 – 3:30

Location: WCG’s 4^th East Community Garden,

553 S 400 E, Salt Lake City, UT

What: Members of Wasatch Community Garden’s 4^th East Garden, will gather to say goodbye as they begin their last season at the twenty-five year old community garden, which has been sold. The land was leased to the garden by the previous property owner, and is slated for development into residential housing units. The new owner has offered one final season to give the gardeners and the organization time to find and move to a new garden location.

Wasatch Community Garden members will meet Saturday to prepare the garden for its final season and begin the farewell year at this longstanding urban community garden.

New and longtime gardeners, and WCG staff will be present to help celebrate this tradition of community gardening in Salt Lake City and to talk about why this loss of open space will be difficult for many in the gardening community.

About the 4^th East Garden: The 4^th East Garden was started by motivated neighbors who wanted to convert the unused property into a garden space for apartment dwellers and any interested community members. The group approached Wasatch Community Gardens about twelve years ago to take over management of the space. The space has served as a community garden for about twenty-five years, thanks to the generosity of the landowner who leased the property to the WCG for below the cost of annual property tax. It has provided gardening space to about 25 Gardeners each year, who begin their final season of growing vegetables, fruits and flowers at the urban oasis this Spring.

In 2006, WCG learned of plans to sell the land and was able to raise money to support their appraised value, and place an offer to purchase the property. Despite funding and assistance provided by Salt Lake City’s Open Space program, private foundations and the Trust for Public Lands, among others, the offer was unable to compete with development prices. The land is one of few remaining pieces of undeveloped property in downtown Salt Lake. The property was recently sold to a new landowner, who has chosen to provide a grace period during 2007 for one final gardening season. The new landowner is the Community Development Corporation of Utah, they purchased the property as it lies in a Salt Lake City redevelopment area and plan to develop the land into housing.

Wasatch Community Gardens will seek to replace the garden, and is beginning its search for a new long-term location in downtown Salt Lake. Wasatch Community Gardens will begin collecting donations for the establishment of a new garden. The organization will hope to open a new garden in 2008, where the displaced gardeners, and a new community can create a vibrant green space.

About WCG: Wasatch Community Gardens was founded in 1989 to provide low-income families with the opportunity to provide their own food. Their mission is to help people grow and share fresh produce, to teach urban youth responsibility, cooperation and ecological awareness and to be an active resource for sustainable organic gardening. In addition to the three other community gardens they operate, Wasatch Community Gardens runs a Youth Gardening program, partnering with social service agencies’ to bring after-school programs into the gardens weekly. They spread gardening beyond these physical locations, reaching an even broader community through free workshops on organic gardening topics, a May Plant Sale, and consulting to help groups start new community gardens throughout the greater Salt Lake area.

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Contacts:

Emily Aagaard

Executive Director

Wasatch Community Gardens

359-2658

Susan Finlayson

Community Education Coordinator (Manager of community gardening)

Wasatch Community Gardens

359-2658