East Side Garden Walk: Building Community with Plants, Flowers & Stories
Visit Buffalo Niagara
By Michelle Kearns
Walk through the gardens of East Buffalo, meet the people who planted them and learn about the culture and history of the city’s Black community. Print a map. And plan a route to the blooms and plantings at the private homes, community gardens and urban farms throughout the 70 listed stops on this year’s expanded, East Side Garden Walk from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, July 23 and 24.
“It’s where the music comes from. It’s where the art comes from,” said Jillian Hanesworth, Buffalo’s first poet laureate who grew up in East Buffalo. “There’s a lot of power there and there’s a lot of culture there. I always describe it as beautiful and colorful and loud.”
As part of this weekend’s programming, she will perform two of her poems at the new Children’s Garden Festival and school bookbag giveaway on Saturday, July 23, at the Box Avenue Park between Fillmore Avenue and Kehr Street.