Community space sprouting up in downtown Washington
Courtesy of Pam Kilgore
Volunteers from the Bradford House, the Rotary Club of Washington and the community pose in and around the space where the greenhouse now stands. Kilgore expressed gratitude for the community’s help bringing Firefly Gardens to life.
Courtesy of Pam Kilgore
The space that would become Firefly Gardens is pictured here in August 2020. Since breaking ground in March 2021, Pam Kilgore and volunteers have turned this vacant lot into a thriving community space.
Courtesy of Pam Kilgore
Students from St. Xavier High School in Ohio traveled to Washington to help garden and get the new space downtown ready for the public. During their time at Firefly Gardens, students learned a thing or two from Rotary volunteer John Hopper.
Courtesy of Dorothy Tecklenburg
Pam Kilgore spends a recent afternoon with a group of volunteers constructing the greenhouse in Firefly Gardens. The greenhouse, which sits on a 100-by-100-foot plot of land behind the Freedom Transit authority building in downtown Washington, is only half of Kilgore’s vision for the gardens.
Courtesy of Dorothy Tecklenburg
In this file photo from 2021, Rotary club volunteers assist WashPa Outdoors with construction of the greenhouse at Firefly Gardens in downtown Washington. A generous donation from the Rotary kickstarted the project, headed by Pam Kilgore.
Volunteers lay the foundation for the greenhouse at the new park in downtown Washington. Firefly Gardens is a 100-foot by 100-foot space that houses multiple gardens and a performance area, where WashPa Outdoors founder Pam Kilgore hopes local artists will showcase their talents for the community.
Community green space is sprouting up in the city of Washington.
WashPa Outdoors, a local nonprofit whose mission is to “get you outside to discover new outdoor spaces in your own community,” has begun growing a garden downtown that serves as a workshop space and small entertainment venue.
“There are two main goals,” said Pam Kilgore, who founded and leads WashPa Outdoors. “One is to provide a space where free workshops on growing produce and how to use the produce can be had. Half of the space is going to be used for those workshops and as a performance space.”
Kilgore broke ground on the new Firefly Gardens in March, less than a year after she first dreamed up plans for a vacant 100-by-100-foot plot of land behind the Freedom Transit authority building along East Chestnut Street.
“This has all happened relatively quickly,” said Kilgore, who worked with Freedom, Washington Business District Authority, Citywide Development Corp. and volunteers to make the project a reality. “The Rotary’s support of funding a greenhouse is what really kick-started Firefly Gardens in the first place.”
Kilgore was invited last year to speak about WashPa Outdoors programming at the Rotary Club of Washington.
Dorothy Tecklenburg, vice president of Rotary, logged into the event over Zoom.
“We were all really excited about what she was doing,” said Tecklenburg. “(Kilgore’s project) is very, very closely aligned with what Rotary believes in. We want to make the world a better place.”
The Rotary club donated $2,500 – a donation matched by the district, to bring the total donation to $5,000 – for the greenhouse and will help Kilgore purchase a shed for the space through grant funding.
“Our two organizations were a perfect marriage,” Tecklenburg said, noting several Rotary members volunteered to build the greenhouse. “Pam is just, she’s just so amazing. Her energy, her vision and her dedication to the community.”
The space – still under construction – is already home to the greenhouse and two demo gardens. Despite planting late in the season, Kilgore has donated two months’ worth of produce to the Community Circle Food Pantry, where she plans to take all extra Firefly Gardens produce.
Kilgore is looking forward to using half the garden for small performances, including dance recitals and poetry readings. Though still a work in progress, Firefly Gardens is already adding life to the community.
“It’s much more accessible for families, folks who are using the bus system,” said Kilgore. “It’s really easy space to get to. It’s an exciting thing to add to uptown.”
Several local organizations pitched in to grow the space into the garden Kilgore envisions it will be, and out-of-town groups, including the Center for Coalfield Justice and The Appalachian Institute, have also helped ready the grassy square for the community.
Students from Washington & Jefferson College are working with area schools to create a mural for the space, which Kilgore said continues the work begun by the Dreamers Company of bringing art into uptown.
“That’s the whole idea is crowdsourcing knowledge and building partnerships with area organizations and local companies to make this really a community space,” Kilgore said.
She recently hosted an open house for those who helped get the garden off its feet and she plans on hosting a grand opening in May 2022.
“It’s been such a beautiful experience,” Kilgore said. “It’s going to be great.”