Community event celebrates local agriculture

April 29, 2019

Marmian Grimes

The public is invited to celebrate Alaska agriculture May 5 at the Georgeson Botanical Garden.

The Interior Alaska Food Network and the botanical garden will host Alaska Agriculture Day 2019 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with free family activities and educational booths representing more than 25 community groups and organizations.

Activities will include painting a plant pot, barley toss, face painting, garden tours, planting a seed starter for sunflowers or marigolds, and several games, such as ladybug tic-tac-toe. The Alaska OneTree Program will demonstrate how to make birch syrup, and participants may learn about beekeeping, conservation, sustainability and growing herbs. There will also be swallow nests from the Alaska Songbird Institute and farm equipment.

A new plaza will be dedicated at 1 p.m. to James Drew, former dean of the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Agriculture and Land Resources Management, which eventually became today's School of Natural Resources and Extension.

One of the event organizers, Britanny Balthaser, said the Interior Alaska Food Network is a coalition of individuals from the Interior who work to improve the local food system. Hosting the event brings attention to the importance of local agriculture, she said. The network is a regional affiliate of the Alaska Food Policy Council.

The garden is located at 117 W. Tanana Drive, at the university’s Fairbanks Experiment Farm. For more information, contact Balthaser at 907-474-6754 or interioralaskafoodnetwork@gmail.com.