Amazing Partners and Teen Youth Council Make Open House a Hit!
The Youth Council interns were hard at work weeks before this year’s Open House-making flyers, calling community partners, and emailing funders to join us for the fun-filled night! All the planning and prepping paid off last Wednesday evening. It was great for interns and staff to visit with old and new faces-alumni interns, CSA members, neighbors, partners and friends from afar. Touring our demonstration site and talking over all the new projects we have put together this summer was a bit hit. New to the event was the wood fired pizza oven built by our partners at First Lutheran. The Cook Fresh interns spent the day preparing the pizza dough and produce from the gardens with other toppings to create fabulous tasting pizza. Our amazing friends and supporters, Yia Vang, Union Kitchen chef, and Barry Madore, a CSA members and owner of Fire on the Bluff kept the pizza coming all night long. Yia and Barry have partnered with us this summer on multiple occasions and we are so grateful for their help and expertise in the kitchen. Interns rounded out the menu with homemade zucchini bread and watermelon. It was definitely a night full of appetizing snacks.
Interns welcomed community members with an Urban Roots Open House Passport, which guided them throughout our site to learn about all the programs, play games designed by interns and join in a raffle for a chance to win prizes donated from each program. Each activity led by the interns was designed to teach the participants about the work that they do and showcased the knowledge that they have gained about sustainable agriculture, parkland restoration, and healthy eating. The Youth Council interns also got a chance to put their public speaking skills to use leading multiple site tours throughout the evening.
HarveStar intern, Tony, thought it was great fun and noted that it challenged him to become better at initiating conversations and hosting an event. “I really hope that next year’s Open House is even bigger and better, as all of them have been each year!” Thank you for joining us last Wednesday and we hope to see you all again at next year’s Urban Roots Annual Open House!
