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Xavier Wells always comes to Central Park to play. "I come to the park about 100 times," he said. And even at 8 years old he noticed the park needed a facelift. Xavier said "the park looks dirty and I want it to look clean."
That's why Salinas Valley Leaders decided to build a community garden. But aesthetics wasn't the main reason. Project leaders told me they chose this location for one reason, the children.
"that was a big question, why do we want to have a garden in a small city, but believe it or not there are many kids who live in this part and dont know about agriculture," said project leader Berniz House.
Xavier even admitted to not knowing much about what gardens were. This may seem strange, since Salinas is the heart of a four billion dollar agriculture industry and a good part of the jobs are in agriculture. In fact, it's safe to say most of the kids learning about the garden have parents who work in the fields. "I know that kids are curious so if you come to this park you will see this garden and kids going, 'oh what is that?" said House.
This pilot program is the first community garden run by the city, but project leaders hope its not the last. "It's like we're planting a seed, people will be like 'oh there's a community garden there.' So people will develope the curiosity about gardens for their own houses.
The organization will have a ribbon cutting ceremony July 16th at 5:00pm at Central Park. There will be free refershments, music and more information about the garden.
