On Oct. 8, locals can bid farewell to summer and say hello to fall at the Transitions-Mental Health Association’s second annual Harvest Festival at Growing Grounds Farm in Santa Maria.
Held in conjunction with Mental Illness Awareness Week, the festival will focus on celebrating the new season and good mental health. Harvest-goers will be able to buy fresh flowers, organic vegetables, and other unique products, all in the name of mental health. Raffle tickets and a catered barbecue lunch will also be available for guests to buy.
All of the money raised at the event will go toward the farm and its programs, which provide horticultural therapy and employment to adults with mental illnesses on the Central Coast.
In 2008, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted to eliminate funding to the Growing Grounds Farm program. As a result, Transitions-Mental Health Association employees turned to communities throughout the North County for donations.
“We’re delighted to share the harvest at our farm and to recognize the people who have made it possible,” Jill Bolster-White, executive director of Transitions-Mental Health Association, said in a release to the media. “We’re grateful for the generosity of their response in support of local mental health services.”
The farm is located on the corner of West Foster Road and California Boulevard in Santa Maria.
For more information, or to buy barbecue tickets, visit t-mha.org or call 541-5144, Ext. 175.
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This article appears in Oct 1-8, 2009.