City Center Market Announces the Groundbreaking of The Edible Cultural Garden
For Immediate Release – August 5, 2022
Media Contacts:
Rick Englehorn, Local Foods Innovation Coordinator – 843-665-2047 or renglehorn@cityofflorence.com
FLORENCE, SC – The City Center Market was awarded the 2022 Community Garden Grant by the South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development (SCACED). SCACED has partnered with the South Carolina Office of Rural Health in a Health Equity Initiative to address COVID-19 health disparities among high-risk and underserved populations, including racial and ethnic minorities and rural residents. South Carolina’s Health Equity Initiative is part of a national project by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, supported by funding through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act.
Grant funds will be utilized to build five raised garden beds as the City Center Market strives to stimulate conversation about race, ethnicity, cultural awareness, and better health practices. The market's focus is to provide a space to share cultural history through its diverse foodways and to open a dialogue about the health benefits of gardening and how vegetables, herbs, and flowers contribute to healthy living.
As a collaborative effort between Keeping Florence Beautiful, Clemson Extension Master Gardeners Program, and Eagle Scout candidate Wells McBride, The Edible Cultural Garden intends to attract a broader and more accurate scope of the Florence community. The garden will also serve as an interactive teaching tool open for community members, social clubs, and all Florence School Districts to visit and engage. Any produce grown in the garden will be available at no cost to anyone who wants to harvest it as the garden will be open to the public.
The City Center Market Staff, volunteers, and Boy Scouts of America Troop #477 will break ground on the garden Saturday, August 6, 2022, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. located at 200 Sanborn Street.