A new patch of green is sprouting outside the Mary Singleton Senior Center in Jacksonville's Springfield neighborhood, with a grand-opening celebration for the Mary Singleton Senior Center Community Garden set for Thursday, Sept. 17, from 10 a.m. to noon at 150 East 1st Street.
The event is being organized around three participating groups: Springfield Preservation and Revitalization, known as SPAR, the City of Jacksonville, Florida, and AARP, according to an event announcement shared by City of Jacksonville, Florida - Government on Facebook. The Facebook post frames the day as a celebration, telling followers to “Join us, Springfield Preservation and Revitalization (SPAR), and AARP as we open the Mary Singleton Garden!” The same post identifies AARP's support as coming through an AARP Livable Communities Community Challenge Grant, though the announcement does not specify the grant amount or when it was awarded.
Notably, the city's own social media messaging contains a date discrepancy: while the government's Facebook post references September 13th as the event date, the available materials do not establish an official September 17th date and time. It is not clear from available materials why the two dates differ.
Who's Behind the New Garden
SPAR describes itself as a nonprofit that works to preserve and build community in Jacksonville's historic Springfield district. Per the organization's own site, SPAR Council is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit that has served as a resource and advocate for the Springfield community since 1974. The garden is associated with the Mary Singleton Senior Center, though the exact size of the garden, its number of plots, or its planting plans were not detailed in the materials made available for this article.
Part of a Broader Local Gardening Movement
Jacksonville's newest garden joins a growing list of community growing spaces across Northeast Florida. Community gardens in Duval and St. Johns counties have steadily multiplied since 2008, with 29 recorded in Duval County alone as of 2014, according to reporting from The Florida Times-Union/Jacksonville.com. That same reporting found these gardens fed 32,291 people across the county in 2014, with 82 percent of those served meeting that year's federal poverty guidelines.
Other local gardens offer a sense of scale for what community plots can grow into over time. The Times-Union reported that Arlington Community Garden had filled 19 of its 37 plots and donated 3,000 pounds of fresh produce, while the St. Augustine Beach Community Garden, established in 2011, expanded to 56 plots that were entirely filled by the time of that report.
Ongoing Support for Local Growers
Beyond individual neighborhood projects, the available materials do not establish which county-level resources support Jacksonville's gardening community. They provide no verified details about a community garden at the Superior Street Demonstration Garden, education or technical assistance for community gardens, or community-garden plot rentals for Duval County residents. They also do not confirm whether plots at the new Mary Singleton site are rented or otherwise allocated.
For now, the focus is on Thursday's ribbon-cutting-style gathering, which the city's Facebook announcement pitches as an open invitation for residents to come see the new space firsthand. Those looking to mark their calendars should note the two-hour window at 150 East 1st Street starting at 10 a.m.
