Garden dedicated to bees and beyond

Anythink Wright Farms dedicates pollinator garden

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Bees and other pollinators are big deal, according to Anythink Library’s managers, so they decided to give them a place of their own.

Anthink Wright Farms in ornton celebrated thegrand opening of a new pollinator garden Aug. 8. e garden is open to every one to visit, whether they are pollinators or not

“Having this pollinator garden is a really amazing opportunity for us to provide more resources along with our mission,” said Mark Fink, Anthink Libraries executive director. “It opens doors for curious minds. One of the initiatives we’re working on is trying to nd ways to help people connect with nature at the level that is comfortable for them.” e event featured guitarist Jose Francisco and cookies and fruit with other refreshments.

Bee-hind the garden e garden is located at the southeast corner of the Anthink Wright farms building facing 120th and is on 1.5 acres with over 900 plants for the bees, butter ies, birds, hummingbirds, rodents, moths and bats that use plants to pollinate. e project also built walkways going through the garden with benches and a pergola with a basalt fountain for the community of all ages to enjoy. e park and the garden were designed by Con uence, a local landscape architecture rm, she said.

“We embarked on this project inspired by our resident beekeeper, Michael Biglen. We have apiaries at three of our location’s community gardens at Anythink Library Wright farms, Anythink Perl Mack, and Anythink Commerce City,” said Stacy Ledden, Anythink Libraries director of strategic partnerships.

Ledden said Biglen is one of their building doctors on the facilities team and has a passion for bees. He brought beehives to several of their locations, which sparked the idea of creating the pollinator garden at the Wright Farms branch.

“Last year the Anythink Foundation and Amazon helped to raise funds to make this possible and the library contributed funds,” Ledden said.

Joel Hiatt, Enhancement Manager with Keesen Landscape Northern Colorado Region, designed the pollinator garden and said this supports the bees that are they’re su ering from colony collapse.

“It was just a pleasure to put in this environmentally friendly garden to help bene t our pollinators in the area, and we’re giving them the diversity to feed here instead of mono crops that are further east. Its going to help our environment and is beautiful place. I’m just really proud to be part of it,” Hiatt said.

Ledden said they dedicated this space to their former Anythink Board Trustee, Linda Wisniewski, for the time she served on the board between 2009 and 2019.

Ledden said it’s an opportunity to educate the community and host programming on the importance of pollinators because they are seeing a decrease in pollinators worldwide.

“So we invite all of those bees , butter ies and hummingbirds back to our community with the 900 plants that have been planted here as part of the garden,” Ledden said.

“It’s been a beautiful project and an excellent space for people to enjoy, re ect, work, and gather.

Glenn Moore, a retired educator visiting the garden, said he moved to ornton in 1996 into a cul de sac by Krameria Street.

“ ere were no houses around us we can listen to cows moo at night, and coyotes howling. I have seen it develop over the years, its wonderful they added the pollinator farm,” Moore said.

Lydia Ontiveros, a retired educator who lives in Wright Farms neighborhood, is a fan of the library. e garden has given her ideas.

“ ey bring in a lot of di erent classes. We can walk up to and use the library. You get to see the kids here learning a lot of educational information. We are trying to put owers in our backyard boxes for pollinators,” Ontiveros said.

Suzanne McGowan, director of customer experience, said she likes to see people sitting out in the garden when she’s coming to work. Some people seem to be having meetings or having a little bit of solitude in the little natural area.

“I like the backdrop of our community garden. It’s just been fun. I hope it’s an experience for lot of our customers, whether they come into the library or not they can enjoy an extension of the library,” McGowan said.

“It has been a labor of love and a gift to the community. So we’re really excited to celebrate its grand opening today,” Ledden said.

“ e pollinator garden is a really great opportunity for us to be able to do that, and it adds some beauty to the area and, gives people an opportunity to sit outside and relax. Our facilities manager said he saw a little toad in our fountain this morning,” Fink said.

Briefs

A publication of Spaghetti Dinner on August 30

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Deadline e Spaghetti Dinner is sure to ll you up and help our kids thrive in school. Tickets cost $20 for adults and $15 for kids 10 and under.

Tues. for the following week’s paper.

Fort Lupton’s Spaghetti Dinner is a very special fundraising event where 100% of the net proceeds from this dinner go directly to purchase school supplies – everything from backpacks to modeling clay to notebooks to computers– for students in Fort Lupton’s Weld RE-8 School district.

Enjoy homemade dinner and dessert, wine, and craft beer. Bring your appetite and your generosity!

Drink wristbands are separate for $25 each.

Learn more at: https://www.fortluptonco.gov/968/Spaghetti-Dinner

Premier Members Credit Union hosting food drive ey include locations at 755 E. 144th Ave. in ornton, the sites at 10339 N. Federal Blvd and 8440 Federal Blvd. in Westminster and the locations in Firestone and Erie.

Premier Members Credit Union will be collecting donations for local food pantries during the entire month of August. Visit your local Premier Members Credit Union branch, or their corporate o ces in Broom eld to donate. Each branch chose a local food pantry to donate to ensure all donations stay local to that community.

Locally, ve branches of the credit union are hosting collections sites.

“We always want to provide support to our local communities,” said Carlos Pacheco, CEO of Premier Members Credit Union. “One of our company pillars is Premier: Gives, where we provide the communities we serve with funds and employee volunteers to support initiatives of education, nancial literacy, and basic needs. is food drive will help many members of our communities to thrive.”

Splash Park Sponsorship Opportunities

Park, but the city will need help from our local businesses and residents. If you’d like to sponsor the Splash Park and have your name engraved on the agstone sponsorship wall, contact Doug at dcook@fortluptonco.gov.

Farm to Market tickets on sale

Tickets for Farm to Table, a fundraising event for the Platte Valley Medical Foundation scheduled for Aug. 17 are on sale now.

e Foundation’s biennial fundraising campaign will bene t women’s health services to help women connect with the care they need throughout their adult years and to support area women who do not always prioritize their own health needs. e foundation hopes to raise $500,000 in the campaign cycle. ey conduct multiple fundraising e orts annually with Farm to Table as the largest event. Farm to Table will be at 6 p.m. Aug. 17 on the hospital campus. Platte Valley Medical Center’s Chef Mike Anderson uses produce donated by area farmers to create a gourmet meal for about 450 guests.

e event garners so much support that it often sells out long before the date. is year, Muñoz reserved a block of tickets that are available to the public for $75 each. ey are available at https://ftt2023.cbo.io.

State youth council needs members e Colorado legislature’s nonpartisan Colorado Youth Advisory Council has openings for new members across the state for the 2023-25 term. islators, and seek feedback from their peers and communities. e Colorado Legislature created the youth advisory council in 2008 to give Colorado’s youth ages 14-19 a voice in lawmaking. Youth council members work each summer to propose policy ideas to a committee of legislators. Each summer, students present policy proposals to legislators. During the last two years, several policies the youth council identi ed became law, including increased crisis services, higher education programs for fostered youth, educational standards and e orts to prevent eating disorders.

Applications are due June 19. State organizers plan to host an informational session for applicants at 6 p.m. June 14. Find info at www.coyac.org/ apply.

Donation time e Fort Lupton Food & Clothing Bank is asking for donations of canned fruits and nuts, varieties of dry pasta and pasta dinners, peanut butter and canned meat such as tuna (including the pouches).

Other potential donations could include chicken, Vienna sausages, spam and salmon. e bank also needs personal items, such as toiletries and baby needs.

Drop o donations at the food and clothing bank’s back door, 421 Denver Ave., on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Call 303-857-1096.

Walk with a doc

Fort Lupton Press (USPS 205880)

A legal newspaper of general circulation in Ft. Lupton, Colorado, Fort Lupton Press is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media, 143 S. 2nd Pl., Brighton CO 80601. .

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Fort Lupton is working on a Splash e Youth Advisory Council is a statewide organization dedicated to youth-led civic service learning. Youth members lead policy committees that analyze issues and policies that impact youth across Colorado. Policy work can include making recommendations about current policies or advocating for new ones. Council members conduct research, write problem/solution statements, meet with subject matter experts, build relationships with leg- is is a walking program for everyone interested in taking steps for a healthier lifestyle. After a few minutes to learn about a current health topic from the doctor, spend the rest of the hour enjoying a healthy walk and fun talk.

Platte Valley Medical Center’s cardiac rehab team and Walk With A Doc will host monthly walks with Dr. Christopher Cannon, an interventional cardiologist at Brighton Heart and Vascular Institute.