Johnson City Parks and Recreation
A Walk in the Park Your Parks and Recreation Connection
Special points of interest: ~ Seed Swap! ~ Administration Highlights ~ Athletic Division Highlights ~ Park Services Division Highlights ~ Recreation Services Highlights - Kudos Corner ~ Calendar of Events
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Inaugural Seed Swap takes root at MPCC! Johnson City Parks and Recreation’s firstever Jump Start Seed Swap and Pollinator Day took root many months ahead of the Feb. 2 event, and the planning, networking and organizing resulted in a large and diverse web of enthusiastic participants. The event at Memorial Park Community Center drew 325 visitors, more than 180 alone for guest speaker Dr. Darrell Moore, an ETSU Biological Sciences professor. Nature Program Coordinator Connie Deegan said Melanie Kelley, one of her volunteers, came up with the idea. “We talked about it, and it sounded like it was going to be big, so I purposefully scheduled it out a bit,” Deegan said. “There are lots of people who can’t wait to get their hands in the soil, but that’s based on the seeds and plants people will have available.” Deegan contacted people to gauge their interests, and their reactions was very positive. They liked the fact there was and education component and that there would be no cash exchanged, she added. She dubbed the people and groups that might be interested in exhibiting their samples and sharing their collective knowledge “talent” – people that would be able to answer questions and offer expert advice. The talent ranged from specialists in garden pollination, native plants, water quality, backyard wildlife habitat, as well as academic experts. “There also were citizen science opportunities. For example, one group may monitor butterflies, but they can only monitor so much personally. So they are involved with others who use smartphones to document a variety of species so they can be given to experts who collect and analyze the data.” Some attendees went only to see what the buzz was about, but ended up sticking around asking questions from exhibitors and others. Many chose to put their names on an email list Deegan put together that delivers links to all exhibitors and participants. The Jump Start Seed Swap and Pollinator Day proved such a success that a bigger space or venue will be needed in the future. A special thanks to these partners/exhibitors: Boone Watershed Partnership, Build It Up TN, ETSU Art & Design Dept., HERBalachia, What’s the Buzz, Southern Appalachian Plant Society, Tennessee Smart Yards, Wild Ones, Zoo Knoxville, Carver Peace Gardens, ETSU Biology Dept. (staff and students), Jacob’s Nature Park at Sinking Creek, Tri-Cities Food Cooperative Interest Group.