WESTLOCK – It’s a disheartening start to the growing season for local gardeners after the Westlock Community Garden was hit by thieves early last week.
The incident, which occurred sometime during the night of June 7, saw flowers and several vegetable plants uprooted and stolen in what is believed to be the first major incident at the community garden since it began in 2010.
“I’m just so sad about this. Our gardeners work very hard — we have a lot of volunteers that help make the place look nice, cutting grass, weeding and generally helping out in the garden,” said Westlock Community Garden president Brenda Lussier. “Then this happens. I wouldn’t be surprised if we lose some gardeners next year.”
The land that the community garden is situated on is owned by the town and currently has no fence around it. However, in light of the recent thefts, the organization is now considering all of its options.
“We spoke about it at our meeting on (June 7). The only problem is we do not own that land, the land is from the Town of Westlock,” said Lussier, noting at the time they were more concerned with keeping deer and other animals out. “First of all, we have to have permission from the town to put a fence in and then decide what type of fence.”
The non-profit organization currently has 51, 20 x 20 garden plots and 25 raised garden beds, which are all rented for the season. So far this spring, gardeners have planted both seeds and transplants at the community garden.
“I went to the garden this morning (June 8) and that’s when I noticed that the flowers were missing — someone had donated some flowers and they were missing,” said Lussier, noting that vegetable plants were also reported stolen but the raised garden beds appeared to be untouched.
It was brought to Lussier’s attention after one of the gardeners reached out to tell her that two young men on bikes were seen by a nearby neighbour going through the gardens on the night of June 7. It appeared they may have had a bag with them, but it is unclear.
Such an incident is quite upsetting for the many gardeners who use the community garden, noted Lussier, considering the time and effort they put into their gardens every year, but despite the setback, many will continue and try to replant their gardens this season. “I think the disheartening part about this is a lot of our gardeners are on a fixed income. To replace (vegetable plants), it’s going to be very costly for them,” she said.
Lussier wants the community to continue enjoying the community garden and will ask the Town of Westlock to help keep a closer eye on the area over the summer.
“At the community garden, we have always encouraged people to come and look at the garden, come and walk through it. I don’t want to discourage that,” Lussier concluded.
