As Yorklands Green Hub gears up for its 10th anniversary, the organization hopes the community will join in the festivities.
This coming Sunday at 10 a.m., the birthday celebration will begin with a guided walk of the property, followed by cake and cider at the former Ontario Reformatory site on York Road.
“Along with hot cider and cake, we will talk about our achievements over the last 10 years. We are really excited to have people come out and learn," said Yorklands Green Hub chair, Lynn Bestari.
In the 1990s, an archaeological dig turned up Indigenous artifacts near the former reformatory.
“And the correctional centre itself had a larger proportion of Indigenous inmates when it was open. So we will talk about that as well as some of the programs that they ran there,” Bestari said.
In celebration of its 10th anniversary, Yorklands Green Hub is also asking Guelph residents to plant 10 pollinator plants in their gardens to help raise awareness of their importance as essential parts of plant reproduction.
“We picked 10 pollinator plants that attract quite a number of pollinators. This includes a number of animals, birds, bees, butterflies and other insects that help to pollinate flowers,” Bestari said.
“Having pollinators helps to maintain biodiversity which is a really big issue right now. It’s important to try to save as much of it as we can."
Bestari said pollinators are important for growing many foods including fruits, nuts and vegetables.
“They also help to prevent soil erosion and capture carbon which is also a big issue right now, along with climate change,” Bestari said.
Community engagement and various partnerships developed over the past decade have helped Yorklands Green Hub to thrive, the board chair believes.
“We’ve been successful in getting some grants, mainly through the Ontario Trillium Foundation, which helped to provide us with staffing to really move things forward over the last few years,” she said.
“We have also been able to add programming that includes monthly walks, events, and half day camps in the summer. And we’ve had very dedicated volunteers who stay with us for many years, as well as great leadership from our past chair, Norah Chaloner, for most of those 10 years that has allowed us to do really well in the community and to build up our profile.”
Initiated by Yorklands Green Hub, a new local advocacy group, Urban Park Guelph, is urging the federal government to turn the provincially owned former reformatory lands into an urban park.
"The ultimate goal is to secure the preservation of this property in whatever way we can," Bestari said.
"We decided that this is a perfect opportunity to establish this property as a national urban park under the Canada Parks system. We have partnered with other organizations to provide a stronger push in helping to establish the park. Our partners include the Guelph Hiking Trail Club, the Arboretum, the rare Charitable Research Reserve, as well as community members who are heritage experts and other interested people who really want this to happen."
Bestari said a petition in support of creating an urban park will be sent to the Parliament of Canada early next year.
"It has just reached over 1,000 signatures but we do need more. It is open for signatures online until Jan. 17," Bestari said. "It really is beautiful, a real jewel in our city, and one that has helped us a lot. People are so excited to help preserve it.”
