Madeline Sueltz, Community Outreach Coordinator for the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District (JVWCD), was anxiously checking the forecast the evening before the Conservation Garden Park’s Spring Garden Fair on May 30 and making panicked plans for inclement weather. What if the canopies blew away? She had spent months putting everything together for the event and now worried for its attendance, only to be pleasantly surprised the next morning by the turnout.

Six hundred and fifty-four people (and some dogs in raincoats) showed up that Saturday, even in the rain. 

Built in 2000, the Conservation Garden Park in West Jordan is owned and operated by the JVWCD. For the last 26 years ago, the Garden has served to show the public how to be water-wise, “because most of our water, our culinary, treated water, is used on our outdoor landscapes, and we're asking people to use less water by having landscapes that use less water,” said Kelly Good, director of Community Engagement at JVWCD. “In that time period, there was a lot of pushback. A lot of ‘well, I don't want my yard to just be full of gravel and cactus,’ so we developed the garden to demonstrate that a water-wise landscape can be beautiful and shady. You can recreate in it and still save water. We see the garden as our biggest tool in helping the community save their water, because it gives them an actual visual idea of what we're asking them to do.

Afternoon attendees assemble native wildflower seed mixes for planting in the fall. (Anna Nielsen/City Journals)

Families partook in the variety of activities offered that day, as well as (literally) soaking in the carefully crafted garden itself. One woman, who had happened across a sign that morning directing her toward the free event, was grateful she came, calling the day “Christmas for gardeners.” Elsewhere, a girl tugged on her mom’s sleeve and grinned up at her, “Hey mom, thanks for bringing me today, I had a lot of fun!” 

The Fair featured the chance to talk with experts about yard design, the specialist’s favorite plants and irrigation. There were creation stations for nature crafts ranging from cyanotype printmaking, to assembling seed packets full of native wildflowers, to making pinecone birdfeeders. Inside the Education Center, there were workshops where parents, children and a few pets learned how to arrange a wildflower bouquet and do it all in a water-wise way. Tours left from the garden, taking visitors to see one of the water treatment plants, where they treat tens of millions of gallons of water a day. 

The JVWCD serves about 775,000 residents of Salt Lake County. “Pretty much, we service the entire west and south of the county,” Good said. Good also shared that “working for Jordan Valley Water is really rewarding because we provide an essential service to our community. We get to interact with a lot of the community in Salt Lake County. To live in a desert, and to have a firsthand role in helping people conserve water, is probably my favorite part about working here.”

Sunny skies opened up as the afternoon went on. Guests that day went home carrying yard signs about lessening water usage, a branded tote bag full of their nature crafts and pamphlets from over a dozen nonprofit community partners, and the band Rat Cat’s rendition of "Fishing in the Dark” stuck in their heads for the rest of the weekend. 

Sueltz was thrilled by the outcome and said her favorite part of the fair was "getting to see all of our different community partners come together across different areas, and seeing what you can do with the collective impact when you partner with other organizations. The partners were all so excited. The garden is such a nice setting to be able to have an event, so I think they look forward to it every year.”

Yard sign promotes “Saving Water, Loving Life! Life is better with water.” with QR code directing its readers to learn more. (Anna Nielsen/City Journals)

The Conservation Garden Park is free and open six days a week. There are weekly events, like the yoga, qigong and tai chi classes, design workshops for “creating your ideal yard,” tours, forest bathing, sound baths, art classes and story time. These and many other events can be found on the Conservation Garden Park’s online community calendar. 

Sueltz said, “It's amazing that we get to offer this for free. I know that there are a lot of families who can't afford to go visit gardens, and so the fact that we put on, you know, Halloween events and classes and things that maybe people wouldn't have access to where they live, I think, is really awesome.”

Good shared the importance she sees in the garden’s programming. “Events are a place to learn more than they might otherwise learn by just passively walking through the garden. We try to hold events that deepen people's understanding on water-wise landscaping, where they realize ‘Oh, this is all water-wise plants. I can do this too. What are the resources?’ And so we see value in hosting classes like that to just kind of spread awareness,” Good said. “We have family-friendly events, some that are geared a little bit more toward adults, some geared specifically to homeowners, but the idea is that we will have something for everyone, and we really invite everyone to come out and take advantage of that.”