For nearly 15 years, Grant County residents have had a place to grow their own food and connect with other people with a passion for planting at a single location.

The John Day Community Garden, on the southern side of the Third Street Extension on the east end of the Grant County Fairgrounds, operates on a lease to use the fairgrounds’ property. Members grow a variety of produce, herbs and even flowers.

On a recent day, asparagus and rhubarb had already begun to sprout on a few of the 42 garden beds located at the Community Garden.

Members pay an annual fee for access to their own raised garden bed, tools, and water for the season. Fees are $35 for a 5-foot-by-20-foot plot and $25 for a 5-by-10 bed, which includes use of the watering supply and garden shed full of tools.

Members also connect with other gardeners. The garden participates in outreach events and partners with local organizations, officials said. According to membership requirements, members volunteer two hours every month for community garden upkeep, in addition to the time spent working on their own beds.

Board President Jesse Schaefer said the organization currently has about 20 members.

“There are a lot of benefits,” she said. “It’s just a healthy activity. You can grow your own organic food. There is a social connection and volunteerism. The main focus of the garden is individual plots, but we’ve also grown food to donate to the food bank.”

The John Day Community Garden was established in 2010, Schaefer said. An AmeriCorps service member helped to establish the community garden, she said.

Several grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Food Bank, as well as countless hours contributed by numerous volunteers, made the garden possible, according to garden officials. Malheur Lumber, the U.S. Forest Service and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs also contributed labor and materials to help build the infrastructure, officials said.

Grant County Fairgrounds manager Mindy Winegar said earlier this year that design work had begun on a gated RV park along Third Street. Plans for the RV park show its footprint cutting into the existing footprint of the community garden. The garden’s lease for use of land on the fairgrounds property expires in September, Schaefer said.

“We have in our plans for an area for the community garden to stay, and we will fence it so it matches with the RV park and is aesthetically pleasing,” Winegar said.

The Community Garden board has discussed options but has made no final decision on whether to stay and reconfigure the garden around the RV park, find another location or have 2024 be the garden’s final season, Schaefer said.

“We have been offered (the option) to stay on the field, but we would need to shift the location of the garden,” Schaefer said. “I think at this time we want to continue the garden, and it may be at the fairgrounds or at another location. We don’t know yet.”