The Burbank Community Garden and the Sustainable Burbank Commission held their “Go Green Burbank Earth Day Celebration” this past Saturday, April 13th with kids activities, presentations, and more.
The free event was held in celebration of Earth Day which takes place on April 22nd each year and was hosted at the Burbank Community Garden located at 1141 North Pass Ave. The garden which opened in the summer of 2022 offers community members raised-garden bed plots to rent, and gives residents a place to grow food and garden if they don’t have the space where they currently live.
After the continuous rainfall seen this season, the native flowers and garden beds were flourishing with colors Saturday. Bright orange California poppies were in full bloom, sprinkled around the walkways and growing up wherever the wind had taken their seeds this winter. Round artichokes sat atop stalks peeking through the lush green plots, showcasing the hard work the residents have put into their garden beds.
At the event the Burbank Water and Power Department had a booth where they showcased the power a bicycle can have on a greener future. Attendees plopped strawberries, bananas and freshly picked kale from the garden into a blender, and used the power from pedaling the bike to blend up their produce into a smoothie.
Vice Mayor Nikki Perez was in attendance and tested out the bike and enjoyed the fruits of her labor as she mingled with guests and the Sustainable Commission board members. Council member Konstantine Anthony also came by to enjoy the day with his son, as well as Mayor Nick Schultz who enjoyed a presentation on the native plants found around the community garden.
The Burbank Recycling Center also had a booth, giving out their green food scrap pails, educating the public on where a pizza box goes depending on how soiled it is, and playing a waste sorting game with children. Other kids activities included story time and terrarium making using propagated succulent leaves.
The Go Green Burbank Earth Day Celebration took place from 9:30am to 11:30am and held presentations every 20 minutes which included “Meeting Our Native Plants,” “Composting 101,” “Seed Starting,” and “Growing Veggies with Kindness.” They also encouraged residents to bring their food scraps for drop-off to be composted on site at the community garden.
