Colorado has always been infamous for its back-and-forth weather swings. After this past week’s cold snap, the warm spring sunshine is back in Northern Colorado. On April 19, it seemed as though spring was finally in the air at The Gardens on Spring Creek, as the garden’s Colorado State University Day event was held to connect with the community and encourage vistors to enjoy the spring sunshine.
The Gardens on Spring Creek is “12 acres of exquisitely curated botanic gardens, a tropical Butterfly House, engaging family-friendly events and weekly educational classes,” according to Visit Fort Collins’ promotion of the organization. The Gardens are located just south of CSU’s campus.
CSU Day is a collaborative event with CSU’s Public Communication in Natural Resources course, which is taught by Professor Jamie Dahl. Admission was free for CSU students, and students from other universities were given a discount. At the event there was tabling, a food truck, crafting and more.
The main goal of CSU Day is “to provide a sustainability-and-wellness-focused opportunity for CSU students to come explore the incredible community resource that is The Gardens on Spring Creek,” said Aaron Varnell, public event coordinator for The Gardens.
The afternoon was full of chatter and craft making as CSU Day commenced at 10 a.m. The event featured tables represented by students, community members and volunteers alike. Sidney Stadelmann, a CSU senior studying sociology and the student outreach coordinator for the Student Sustainability Center, had an informational table at the event. The SSC is a club and resource center in CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability and is focused on educating and providing students with ways to live sustainably.
“We’re trying to cater sustainability to everyone and learn about sustainability without any political lines,” Stadelmann said.
CSU Day wasn’t just a tabling event; there were a few informational and interactive crafts and activities for all ages scattered around the curated botanical gardens, such as building homes for bees, planting plants in recycled pots and crafting reusable totes.
Another student, Leah Hein, a sophomore majoring in fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology who is currently enrolled in Public Communication in Natural Resources, helped eventgoers make tote bags out of recycled, donated and overstock T-shirts. She demonstrated the craft, which consisted of cutting and tying the shirts, and emphasized how these homemade totes are able to be used for groceries and other items.
“We’re hoping to advertise how cool The Gardens are,” Hein said. “It’s pretty banger.”
The entire event at The Gardens was made possible through a new Community Engaged Learning/Service Learning Mini-Grant, funded by the Community Engaged Learning program in The Institute for Learning and Teaching. This mini grant was awarded to Dahl, and Varnell explained how, through the grant, the funding was acquired to finally put on the first CSU Day for students and families of Fort Collins.
“We’ve had several years of successful partnership with the (Public Communication in Natural Resources course) taught by Jamie Dahl,” Varnell said. “This event is a direct extension of that mutual work.”
Everything about the event was curated to be exclusively eco-friendly, down to the utensils eaten with, the food truck used and the handouts provided at the tables, which invited all eventgoers to embrace sustainability fully.
“We hoped CSU Day would let students know we’re here,” said Gigi Schaller, adult program coordinator at The Gardens. As the adult program coordinator, she is in charge of organizing The Gardens’ activities, such as their weekly art and fitness classes, as well as seasonal events such as Pumpkins on Parade and Garden of Lights. She said her goal is to keep The Gardens relevant and to plan enjoyable activities for everyone all throughout the year.
Reach Ava Stampa at life@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
