The Marquez Charter School Garden Blog: The Marquez Edible Garden 20th Birthday Celebration

On May 28, we celebrated the 20th birthday of the Marquez Garden with a ceremony in the garden.

At the event, we honored the dedicated parents and community members who helped to build the garden and recognized those who are helping it today. Norm Kulla, legal counsel for Mike Bonin, presented Jessica Lamden with a proclamation from the LA City Council. Jessica Lamden was a Marquez parent who spearheaded the garden project in 1994 as well as the installation of many trees on the playgrounds and the upper yard grass area. Other people in attendance who had helped with the project included Rachael Knotz, Hazel Tate, Bob Karp, Susan Karp, the Boy Scouts, Rich Chanin, and Dana Fein. (Absent were Jackie Ota, Nina Fisher, Linda West, Judith Kampmann, Candess Medress and others.) Marion Heller, a former 2nd grade teacher who used the garden in the 90's joined the celebration. Community volunteers Jack Sanders and Carolyn Hasselkorn attended the celebration. Garden donors present included Brittany Schaefer of Raw Inspiration, Rick Chanin of Gibson International Realty and Jack Sanders of the Pacific Palisades Garden Club. (Not present were representatives from Malibu Compost, Dan Urbach, Whole Foods and Gelson's).

Tour guides from 2nd and 3rd grade gave tours of the garden to the guests. They did a wonderful job! Thanks to Sophie Miller, Maile Roarke, Taylor Gair, Amelia Lessans, Samantha Kissane, Golden Yermilov-Miller, Kayla Catalano, and Molly Cohen.

Thanks to: Ericka Gair for the beautiful new garden sign and the donor wall; Heather Haggenmiller for the ladybug decorations inside the garden; Veronica Kissane, Heather Haggenmiller, Bridget Guy and Beverly Jacobs for refreshments.

A bit of history: the garden was dedicated to Ron Cooper, a beloved plant manager who was recently deceased; John Raiit sang at the opening celebration; funding for the garden came from various sources including grants and fundraisers at school and in the neighborhood; Boy Scouts helped with building the seating area and the raised bed covers and many of the brick seating areas around the newly planted trees on the playgrounds; Wally Denton of Denton Jewelers helped fund the grass area on the upper yard. The grass area, the edible garden and many of the tree locations on both playgrounds were asphalt when the projects started in the 90's. Linda West designed a science pond that was originally in the garden. In the beginning the garden was open to teachers to use if they wished to plant.