World Garden Commons Grand Opening- Prairie for the People

FARGO, N.D. Non-profit partners and the community near Rabanus Park, Fargo, invite residents to celebrate the end of construction at World Garden Commons on August 5 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

A variety of ecological and cultural activities are planned characterizing “Prairie for the People”. The activities show the importance of community connection, nature, natural resources and the creative expressions of cultures as World Garden Commons is a greenspace that reflects the cultural vibrancy of the Fargo community.

Celebration Activities at Rabanus Park, Fargo:

Be More Colorful will offer 360° virtual tours of the World Garden Commons basin and feature views of the basin during winter, after a rain event and during a full prairie flower bloom.

To close the celebration at World Garden Commons, the FM Ballet will perform several dances choreographed by Matthew Gasper that demonstrate how water transforms the land and humanity can work in harmony with the natural resources that surround them.  The troupe will include a selection from “Spirit Rising,” a ballet that honors Nimuué, a skeleton found in 1931 near Pelican Rapids believed to have lived about 20,000 years ago and may represent the oldest archaeological discovery in North America.

The Native American Commission’s Mini Powwow welcomes the community to join dancers, singers, drummers and anyone who wants to dance to inter-tribal songs. Grand Entry will be at 5:15 p.m. where everyone is welcome to participate, with or without regalia. The mission of the Fargo Native American Commission is to promote understanding, recognition and respect for Native American cultures and enrich the whole community.

Growing Together volunteers will host garden tours, provide a short planting workshop, offer samples of produce and face-painting for children. Growing Together is a community garden ministry that has been growing food and relationships at Rabanus Park for 4 years.

The New American Consortium for Wellness and Empowerment is hosting world music and an art project: attendees can make pinwheels to catch the prairie wind.  The New American Consortium promotes wellness and empowerment by building bridges among people, bonds between diverse communities, and links to organizations.

The Arts Partnership is hosting Kindness Rocks Project with Dina Schulz. The Kindness Rocks Project™, encourages people to leave rocks painted with inspiring messages along the path of life. The Arts Partnership is a dynamic umbrella arts organization devoted to cultivating the arts in our community.

Plains Art Museum Buzz Lab interns are helping to plan the event and will bring the Mobile HIVE to the Prairie for the People celebration. The Buzz Lab interns will host a photo booth to capture the fun and activities. Buzz Lab interns work with artists and teachers to learn and discuss the importance of pollinators, create art and serve as ambassadors for the Plains Art Museum.

River Keepers invites attendees to participate in a World Garden Commons scavenger hunt, be a part of an incredible water journey, and taste Catfish which is the most popular game fish in our Red River. River Keepers helps the community value the Red River through education, stewardship and leadership.

The World Garden Commons at Rabanus Park is the result of the community’s design that transforms an urban storm water basin into prairie, wildflower, and wet meadows with environmental learning labs, walking trails, gathering places for celebrations and cultural festivals, and nature observation areas.

With water as the vehicle for connecting people to the land, the approach and process for the design of the site activated a collective creative agency. Artists, neighbors, engineers, landscape architects, and ecologists, worked together to develop a solution to transform the neighborhood storm water basin to fit unique needs as a community.

World Common Gardens, the pilot site for The Fargo Project is underwritten by ArtPlace of America, the Kresge foundation National Endowment for the Arts, North Dakotas’ Outdoor Heritage Fund, the Plains Art Museum and the City of Fargo.

The Fargo Project, led by internationally renowned artists Jackie Brookner (1945-2015), incorporates community involvement through creative placemaking and a community-design process seeped in the arts, culture and belonging to enliven and enrich a community and to for the ecological restoration of a functional storm water basin.