Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center is hosting their annual Day of Play, a free family event focusing on nourishing food and health on July 30 in their community garden setting.
Olivewood Director of Development Claire Groebner said the pandemic has “put the kibosh on some hands-on activities” but the event presents a good opportunity for families to get out of the house, think about what health and environmental stewardship means for them and put some good ideas into practice.
For example, the Kitchenistas are going to be running a quesadilla station Groebner described as a star of the event.
“They do a whole demonstration and talk about the history of corn, use a metate to grind it, use the corn from the beginning to the tortilla and then people get to eat a very delicious quesadilla with grilled vegetables,” Groebner said.
The Kitchenistas are nutrition advocates who have all graduated from Olivewood Gardens’ Cooking for Salud program which is designed to teach participants how to make healthy lifestyle changes. Developed in 2012, the program was born from staff recognizing National City students who visited the center for field trips couldn’t effectively bridge the nutrition gap with parents in a community with limited fresh food options at local grocery stores.
In addition to the Kitchenistas demonstrations, the Day of Play will also include healthy food tasting setups, activity stations for young children and a garden scavenger hunt.
With the COVID-19 pandemic well past the two-year mark, the event has taken multiple forms over the past few years.
“In the past, we’d have about 600 people, like 20 to 25 partner booths, families everywhere, we’d be super busy with a lot of people touching the same things. In 2020 we did it all virtually through Facebook Live. Last year, we tried kind of a hybrid with some online events and some held in person just for National City residents at specific time slots. That worked but it definitely didn’t have the same carnival, festival feel so this year we’re trying to go closer to the original Day of Play,” Groebner said.
This year, the learning center is trying to strike a balance between keeping people safe from COVID-19 transmission while also promoting a minimal waste event, goals Groebner said can be challenging to bring together.
“Our theme is Recycle Reduce Reuse and we’ll talk about some of the ways we can divert items from the landfill. We’re making the most of the circumstances,” Groebner said.
Although the Day of Play could appear to be an event for younger children and families, organizers have tried to include teens in a volunteer capacity, ostensibly to learn about health and nutrition in a fun setting while also staying engaged at their level.
“We have some awesome volunteers who help come out for setup and tear down, and throughout the year we have internship possibilities. We do recognize Day of Play is geared toward those younger families and give teens the opportunity to build ownership of the event,” Groebner said.
Organizers have also reached out to “a ton of partners” Groebner said, who share a love of health but differ in their focus.
“They’re everything and everywhere from Ocean Connectors to the National City library to Berry Good Food to all sorts of other organizations that are in the shared environmental stewardship and nutrition space,” Groebner said.
Families can visit www.olivewoodgardens.org to pre-register for the event or learn more about Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center.
