Come join us for our first harvest festival

Come and join us on Thursday August 26, 5.00 PM to 8.00 PM to celebrate the planting of our community orchard in Ben Nobleman Park across from Eglinton West Subway station. We’ll have free food, music, information booths, orchard tours, a free raffle and activities for kids.

The event is being organized by our group, Growing for Green together with Parks Forestry and Recreation. Our festival partners include Not Far From The Tree, Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests and Toronto Beekeepers Cooperative.

There will be lots of free treats (while supplies last) including:

• Locally-grown fruit compliments of Growing for Green
• Vegan nibbles compliments of Loving Hut (from 5.00 pm to 6.30 PM)
• Vegetarian pizza squares complements of Mamma’s Pizza (from 6.30 PM as long as pizza lasts)
• Finger sandwiches complements of Growing for Green and prepared by What A Bagel!
• Coffee compliments of What A Bagel!
• Cookies compliments of Pine Villa Retirement Residence.

As for free activities, we have lots of them…great for folks of all ages:

We'll have orchard tours, live music, children's activities, and much more

• Orchard tours at 5.00, 6.00 and 7.00 PM lead by Susan Poizner of Growing for Green, meeting at the harvest table
• Ribbon cutting ceremony at 5.30 PM at the orchard shed to celebrate the arrival of our Fiskars tools as part of our Project Orange Thumb Grant
• Activities for children with Garden Jane and her crew from 5.00 to 8.00 PM teaching kids to make a “Wild Bites Community Orchard Salad” mixing fresh greens and veggies from local farmers with some of the fruits we’ll harvest for years to come in the orchard
• Martial Arts Demonstrations at 5.30 PM and 6.30 PM  with the students of Classical Martial Arts Centre
• Raffle prizes announced at 7.00 PM. Stick around till then if you want to win a prize!

So how will the free raffle work? Everyone attending the Harvest Festival is eligible to get a ticket and can win prizes worth from $25 to $500! Here are just a few of the prizes:

Planting an apricot tree in March 2009

• Two $50 gift certificates from the Petroff Gallery
• Two half-hour massage gift certificates from Sylvan Therapeutics
• One floral centrepiece from Flour Studio Cakes and Flowers
• Three 6-week enrollment to martial arts classes from Classical Martial Arts Centre valued at $297 each
• Three half-hour massages from Classical Martial Arts Centre
• One pomegranates arils removal tool and cookbook from Israel’s Bookstore
• One manicure from Anna’s Pretty Nails
• One $500 gift certificate (yup…two zeros in there) from Kates & Co, the urban loft store
• One gift certificate for Loving Hut Vegan Restaurant
• House plants from Pine Villa Retirement Residence
• Three Earth From Space jigsaw puzzles from Everywhere Maps
• Eight $25 gift certificates for Frida restaurant

This event has been generously funded by Live Green Toronto and we also thank our other funders including Walmart Evergreen, Carrot Cache, Fiskars Tools, Richters Herbs and City of Toronto Economic Development.

Our group,Growing for Green, planted Toronto’s first community orchard in a public park in 2009 with 9 fruit trees (cherries, plums and pears) and added 5 more trees this year (apricots and crabapples). We have also renovated the park’s perennial bed, turning it into a pollinator garden, installed an irrigation system in the park, raised funds for a harvest table made of heirloom wood. And much more.

We look forward to meeting you at this wonderful event!