Brighton Community Garden History

The Brighton Community Garden is an all-organic community garden consisting of 100 plots, tended by community members who grow food for their own use using all organic methods. The garden was established in 2009 next to the Buckland House on Westfall Road.  The Town actively promotes and supports programs to help Brighton residents live more sustainably.  The community garden joined the Brighton Farmers’ Market as a fun, community-building tool to encourage residents to eat more local, sustainably-grown food.

Prior to the garden’s opening in 2009, the Town plowed a large field east of Buckland House, and volunteers marked off plots, laid straw paths, and installed fencing.  One volunteer built a beautiful entry and gate, and another planned and planted a flower bed at the garden entrance.  All plots are assigned to a diverse group of gardeners, including families with children, senior citizens, college students, and singles.  In 2009, the Environmental Club from Brighton High School planted watermelons and other crops in its plot, and a preschool planted flowers and vegetables. The youth group from a local church planted vegetables to donate to a local shelter for homeless women and children, and a group of youth from Hillside Children’s Center also tended a plot. Each year produce grown in the garden is donated to the Brighton Food Cupboard.

Each year since its opening, a beautiful patchwork of tiny, creatively-designed gardens has bloomed.  That beauty was captured in the following pictures taken by Supervisor Frankel in a visit to the garden in August, 2009.