Garden Tour Promoters Pack
As part of Life Lab's 40th Anniversary we organized and promoted "Santa Cruz County Open School Gardens Day" This was a one day event where 14 local school gardens opened their gates for community building and garden tours. Our post event assessment noted that about 300 people attended and of those attendees 75+ were visits from folks outside of the host school community. Follow the steps below to run your own school garden tour or open gardens event.
Steps & Resources for Running a School Garden Open House or Tour
Step 1) 4-5 Months Before Your Event Date - Identify Interested Gardens
We used the following email text and this Initial Interest Form to sign up interested gardens. Click here to make and save an editable copy of our Initial Interest Form in your google drive account.
Initial Email Sent to Recruit Interested School Gardens:Greetings Friend,Join school gardens from across Santa Cruz County for Open School Gardens Day on Saturday, October 12, 2019Use this very short form to let us know of your school's interest to participate in Open School Garden Day. Please fill this out by June 7th.For Life Lab's 40th anniversary we will be organizing and promoting various celebrations and a school garden open house called "Open School Garden Day".As part of the Open School Garden Day we will promote participating school gardens and are looking to provide you resources (grocery store gift cards and a new garden sign) to help you run your event. This will be an opportunity to share your garden program to the wider community and reconnect with those (Life Lab "Pioneers") that will be gathering as part of Life Lab's Anniversary Gala.Learn more about the Santa Cruz Area School Garden Network
Step 2) 2-3 Months Before Your Event Date - Confirm Garden Event Details
We used the following email text and this Event Details Form to confirm participating gardens. Click here to make and save an editable copy of our Garden Event Details Form in your google drive account. The Event Details From was included on our Events Details and Resource Page
Email Sent to Confirm Open Garden Event: Greetings Friend,Santa Cruz County Open School Gardens Day is months away!Find all the details and link to Event Planning form here. Confirm your participation by filling out the Event Planning form by August 17th.As part of Life Lab’s (the national non-profit with local roots) 40th anniversary we will be organizing and promoting county-wide celebrations and a school garden open house call "Open School Gardens Day" on Saturday, October 12th. www.lifelab.org/40-yearsThe purpose of Open School Gardens Day is to share and build the vibrant school garden culture that your garden brings to your school. Your school community and school garden enthusiasts will be invited to join in on your event or just visit your garden. We expect visitors from out of the region to come and tour the participating gardens.The list of schools below have expressed interest in participating and need to complete the Event Planning form by August 17th. If your school is not listed and you would like to participate, fill out the Event Planning form by August 17th.Participating schools will receive a $40 Grocery Store Gift Card to assist in your event planning, a new metal garden sign, a Life Lab publication of your choice and some seeds.Find all the details and link to Event Planning form here. Confirm your participation by filling out the Event Planning form by August 17th.Schools who have expressed interest in participatingAmesti ElementaryBoulder Creek Elementary Branciforte Middle SchoolBrook Knoll Elementary.... (truncated list)
Step 3) Provide Support Resources for Participating Gardens
We used the following email text and this Events Details and Resource Page to remind and support our participating school gardens.
The Events Details and Resource Page lists ideas, tips and videos for running effective and engaging garden events and/or workdays
Final pre-event email sent to school garden hosts:
Hi School Garden Champs!
We are a week away from Open School Garden Day. Here's some updates:
1. Your $40 Whole Foods Gift Card was put in the mail on Friday addressed to you at your school address. Keep an eye out for it. Use these bucks to support your garden event or your garden classes.
2. See who RSVPed via the RSVP form on the www.lifelab.org/opengardenswebsite. Do not consider this to be a complete list.(WE USED THIS RSVP FORM TO RECORD OUT OF TOWN AND NON-SCHOOL COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO WERE PLANNING ON ATTENDING. CLICK HERE TO SAVE AND EDITABLE COPY OF THE RSVP FORM IN YOUR GOOGLE DRIVE)
3. Please make note of how many visitors come to your garden workday (use a visitor sign in sheet??) and of those visitors how many are not folks that you invited from your school community. We want to get an idea of how many people outside of your school community showed up. I will follow up after the event with this Post Event Feedback form for you to share how it went and number of attendees. CLICK HERE TO SAVE AND EDITABLE COPY OF THE POST EVENT FEEDBACK FORM IN YOUR GOOGLE DRIVE)
4. www.lifelab.org/opengardenshas a map that shows visitors where to park plus a highlighted section that marks your garden (and also tells your garden dimensions in Sq Ft and acres). Clicking on the flower icon shows your event details. More details are also linked to in one document. (WE CREATED THE MORE DETAILS CHART FROM GARDEN EVENT PLANNING FORM)
5. View tips and ideas for running your event or workday which also has links to these directional sign templates:
Poster Templates - add your event details/arrows and post around your school campus to help visitors to your school find your garden. These are in Google Sheets template. To make an editable copy you can do the following: 1) Open them in Google Drive and “add them to your drive” or 2) Click “File” menu and then “Download” as Microsoft PowerPoint.
6. Your new garden sign should be arriving to me on Friday. I will do my best effort to deliver your garden sign to your garden site on Friday along with your free Life Lab publication that you noted when you signed up. I will set the sign at your garden site with some zip ties to secure it. I will leave your book in the office or garden (if it seems like a good space to leave a book).
Feel free to take photos during the event and share to me via email or post on social with #openschoolgardens
Thanks again for sharing your garden on a Saturday!
Step 4) Create Event Promotions
We did the following to promote Open School Gardens Day
Sent promotional emails to thousands on our regional email list and posted on relevant regional list serves/groups
Provided poster/directional signage templates for garden sites
Created this website and detailed map www.lifelab.org/opengardens
we used Google's My Maps to upload custom map data and outline garden site location on school sites
Submitted this Public Service Announcement to local radio stations
LIFE LAB, THE NATIONAL NON-PROFIT WITH LOCAL ROOTS, IS CELEBRATING ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF BRINGING LEARNING TO LIFE IN GARDENS. CELEBRATE THE VIBRANT SCHOOL GARDEN CULTURE THAT LIFE LAB HELPED IGNITE. ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12TH SCHOOL GARDENS ACROSS SANTA CRUZ COUNTY WILL BE OPENING THEIR GATES FOR OPEN SCHOOL GARDENS. TOURS AND EVENTS WILL BE OFFERED. ON OCTOBER 13TH LIFE LAB WILL BE HOSTING AN ANNIVERSARY GALA AT HOTEL PARADOX. LEARN MORE AT WWW.LIFELAB.ORG/40YEARS THAT’S LIFELAB.ORG / ”4” “0” YEARS – END –
Submitted Event Announcements to local online calendar and print media
Event Announcement - Connect with the vibrant school garden culture of Santa Cruz County! In celebration of Life Lab's 40th Anniversary the greater community is invited to visit area school gardens for tours and special events. 15 school gardens across the county will be part of this "Open School Gardens" event. View activity schedule and map of gardens at www.lifelab.org/opengardens
Provided Event Announcement templates for garden site host (see sample announcement on the Events Details and Resource Page)
Social Media Posts tweetinstagramfacebook #openschoolgardens
Created a photo album of gardens before and during the event
Step 5) Collect Post Event Feedback
We used this Post Event Feedback form after the event to share how it went, collect suggestions for future events, and record the number of total attendees. (CLICK HERE TO SAVE AND EDITABLE COPY OF THE POST EVENT FEEDBACK FORM IN YOUR GOOGLE DRIVE)