Volunteers have broken ground on a community center garden that will be used to teach as well as to feed garden project participants.

“I think it will add a lot to the facility,” said parks district commissioner Marco Aurilio. “I think it will attract people to the community center.”

At their June 14 meeting the parks board approved up to $225 in funds for the lumber and soil to build two raised beds behind the community center and agreed to donate the water for the project. Project coordinator Naomi Shucard said construction on the beds would begin immediately.

Shucard, who is also the coordinator of the summer Kids Camp at the community center, said the two small raised beds would be used to teach children in the program and the community in general about sustainable gardening practices that are good for the environment as well as the gardener. “We’ll try and do some workshops, plant things, invite people from the community to come and help,” she said.

A section of the garden will be specifically set aside for the Kids Camp kids to plant and maintain during the four week session that starts July 5.

In its first year, Shucard said, the community center garden would be too small for community members to have their own plots. Shucard will coordinate all planting and maintenance activities with the help of volunteers. Produce from the garden would go to the people and families who have helped with the garden, Kids Camp participants, senior center participants and the local food bank. She added that some of the fresh vegetables and herbs could be sold at a proposed farmers market at the community center to raise funds for next season.

Parks commissioners also gave approval for an open market in the community center parking lot and playground this summer. “Saturday Mornings LIVE” will kick off July 3. Aurilio is one of the organizers of the market and said they hope to have strong participation in the first market. “I’d like it to start with a bang,” he said. Some tables will be available for a $5 rental fee on a first come, first served basis, but community members can also bring their own tables or sell stuff out of the trunks of their cars: Produce from local gardens, crafts, garage sale stuff, homemade jam or snacks. The local firefighters association will provide free bike safety checks and Aurilio said he is expecting the event to be livened up with musical performances.