Address
1700 South Holly Street
Denver
Neighborhood
Virginia Village
Established
1985
Cook Park Community Garden at RMSEL focuses on growing community alongside abundant produce. This garden is good for cultivating, not just vegetables, but people too. Thirteen first generation people that have come from all over the world are caring for this garden and are learning from one another about gardening across cultures. The garden provides a comforting place for gardeners, where one can go to have someone to talk to, but can also be a fantastic place for solitary reflection and relieving tension. Arzella Dirksen, garden leader, calls it “a very caring garden and group of people” and states that people are always willing to help fellow gardeners in need of assistance. She says, “what you don’t have, somebody else does, and they will share with you.”
Cook Park Community gardeners often bond at their annual pot lucks which occur 3-4 times per year at the near by Cook Park Recreation Center. The garden is filled with a variety of gardener interests, with these multiple interests coming together in Cook Park Community Garden’s produce donation program, with produce being donated to Project Angel Heart, which provides free, nutritious meals to those coping with life-threatening illness.
- Open to the public
- School-based community garden
