BY JEFFERSON SIEGEL | Last Saturday the 6th and B Community Garden in the East Village held its 39th annual Harvest Fest, its first in three years.
Visitors munched on sweet corn and veggie and regular hot dogs while listening to live music from VC & Friends Band, The Latin Free Boppers and Chubracabras. Garden officers chose not to hold a yearly raffle, so as not to burden already-struggling local restaurants and shops with offering prizes.
Shortly after the pandemic hit in March 2020, New York City’s hundreds of community gardens were forced to shut down along with most of the world. Not only were gardeners locked out of tending their planting beds and crops, but locals lost the opportunity for fresh air, sunshine and many of the annual events the gardens hosted. During the lockdown only garden members were allowed past the locked gates and then only for necessary maintenance.
As the pandemic eased, many of those traditional events have slowly returned.
The Garden’s original Harvest Fest was a corn roast, blessed by the chief of the Onondoga Nation, who was joined by several local priests and a rabbi.
The final musical event of the garden’s season will be Music under the Stars with Joff Wilson this Sat., Oct. 15, from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. It’s free and open to the public. For more information about the garden check out www.6bgarden.org.
It was so great to see old friends, make new friends and enjoy great food & music together…FINALLY after 3 years.
Next Year the Sixth Street & Avenue B Garden (aka 6B Garden) will be celebrating our 40th year!! It will be held on Saturday, October 7th (Rain date Oct 8th)
Don’t miss this one; we are going all out. Back to the amazing $1-only raffle (we will never charge more) coordinated by Joanee Freedom. We’ve had over 200 raffle prizes, including several $100 dinners to a local restaurants. It’s a Win-Win for local biz promotion & community members. I hope to see ya’ll next year~ Barbara
(thanks for coming Jefferson, and for the awesome pics)