The Sustainability Circus

Step right up to our unique Sustainability Circus! Climate change is coming to Frogtown, and we will be better prepared for its impact if we can learn how to adapt.

0n September 7, 2019, the Circus came to Frogtown for the first time; in 2020, the tents, performers, food and fun will be back with even more entertaining and useful ideas. 

Monarch City

Monarch butterflies, honeybees and other beautiful pollinators have more places to land and feed, at Frogtown Green's prairie gardens. Pollinator-friendly plantings are maintained by volunteers at Monarch City, on the west end and the north side of the West Minnehaha Recreation Center, 685 Minnehaha Avenue. On a summer day, the gardens are alive with bees, butterflies and birds! New gardens are growing on the north and east corners of the park in 2020; volunteers are welcome to help every Wednesday afternoon.

Our Village Community Garden

Frogtown residents and food-sharing organizations maintain space at Our Village, a 40-bed community garden at Pierce Butler and Milton Avenue. Gardeners of all different ages and abilities learn from one another. Special events at Our Village have included a strawberry ice cream social, concerts on an artist-painted grand piano and a harvest bonfire.

Tree Frogs Pop-Up Park

Frogtown has less tree canopy on private land than any other city neighborhood. The energetic Tree Frogs are working to change that. This volunteer group has planted over 400 new trees in front and back yards, and on public spaces in Frogtown. Donated trees are kept over the summer months in our innovative community gravel bins, at the Tree Park on Dale Street and Lafond Avenue.  We're planting lots more trees in fall 2020 in collaboration with the city's forestry unit.

Lily Pad Garden

Our most ambitious project to date, the Lily Pad mixes community gathering space, vegetable gardens for seniors, and a greatly expanded tree nursery on one large vacant lot on Dale Street. Experienced senior farmers, tree planters, adjacent neighbors, and other partners are working hard to turn a 20,000 square foot lot—vacant for the past decade—into a thing of beauty. Stop by this summer, to see how we've transformed the place!