Salt Lake City has a new community garden at a small park near Trolley Square.
The Richmond Park Community Garden, 444 E. and 600 South, marks the sixth garden the city has created through a partnership with Wasatch Community Gardens, and 33 people have already reserved plots.
“Community gardens support our local food system and create connections that build stronger communities,” Mayor Erin Mendenhall said in a news release Wednesday, adding that supporting green space also makes the city more adaptive to climate change.
Richmond Park was named after Mignon Barker Richmond, a human rights activist and the first Black woman to graduate from a Utah college. Richmond also started a school lunch program at the University of Utah’s Stewart School and directed food services for Salt Lake City’s YWCA. The park’s new community garden aligns with the food accessibility cause she championed, according to the release.
Wasatch Community Gardens received $50,000 in capital improvement program funds to build the Richmond Park Community Garden. The nonprofit now operates 16 community gardens in Salt Lake County, along with its Grateful Tomato Garden, and produces an estimated 26 tons of food a year.
Those interested in signing up for a plot at community garden can contact Wasatch Community Gardens at 801-359-2658 or email van@wasatchgardens.org.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Nkenna Onwuzuruoh picks yellow squash from her plot inside the newest community garden in Salt Lake City at Richmond Park on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021.
