See how Learning Gardens Laboratory used Earth Day to bring families, kids, and elders together in a hidden green space …
Greeting visitors at the Learning Gardens Laboratory Earth Day celebration are PSU grad student and LGL team member Cat Ayala, left, and PSU grad Tanja Boudreaux.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Neighbors of all ages gathered at Portland State University’s Learning Gardens Laboratory (LGL), in the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood, on Saturday, April 25, as the teaching garden turned into a lively Earth Day fair and community gathering place.
The annual Earth Day Celebration, held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. across the street from Lane Middle School, invited the public to explore the garden, browse plant starts, and connect with local groups focused on sustainability and community health.
Visitors cluster under and around exhibits under canopies like this one as Earth Day activities unfold at Portland State University’s Learning Gardens Laboratory.
Participating organizations provided interactive art projects, workshops, live music, food, and a variety of vendors – with activities geared toward “folks of all ages”, and admission remaining free, with donations welcomed.
Community in a “third place” green space
As the celebration was underway, LGL Community and Events and Education Manager Camila Lautz outlined why Earth Day has become a fixture on their calendar.
LGL Community and Events and Education Manager Camila Lautz calls the Earth Day gathering “a gateway” for neighbors who “can just come be here, meet your neighbors, and meet people in your community.”
“It’s our fourth annual Earth Day celebration,” Lautz explained. “We have local organizations and vendors come and table, and we just have a day out in the garden to celebrate the earth, and be ‘in community’ with each other.”
For Lautz, “being in community” also meant making sure neighbors know the garden is there for them year-’round.
“For us it’s kind of for people to know, like – hey, ‘we’re here’, and we’re a resource in the community,” she told East Portland News. “You can just come and hang out in the garden, and we’re also a resource in terms of the food that we grow. We donate most of the food that we grow here, and also offer this as a space.”
Showing a “Douglas meadowfoam” plant for sale is Jaden Barney of SolarPunx, which he describes as “your friendly neighborhood guerrilla gardeners, plant-based mutual aid, and urban native planting who grow at LGL.”
She described LGL as the kind of “third place” that can be hard to find in many neighborhoods.
“It’s hard to find intentional ‘third spaces’, especially green spaces,” Lautz reflected. “Our doors are open.”
A garden classroom for kids, families, and elders
Throughout the afternoon, visitors browsed plant sales, stopped by local organizations’ tables, and joined in the art activities sprinkled through the beds and pathways. Lautz pointed out that organizers built the day around hands-on, family-friendly experiences.
“As a part of it, we have plant sales, and then art activities,” she explained. “We really try to bring kiddos in as well, especially if they can come out in the garden, and be outside.”
That focus on kids echoed LGL’s work the rest of the year.
PSU Sonic Arts and Music Production student Henry O’Brien “rocks out” at the Earth Day celebration by painting this stone during a garden art activity.
“That’s one of our main things here,” Lautz pointed out. “We do garden education for K through eight students, and we want them to learn the different kinds of plants, get excited about plants, and get excited to be outside.”
She added that the Earth Day celebration was meant to draw a wide range of neighbors, not just families with young children.
Jen Hazen, a certified Multnomah County Master Gardener from OSU Extension Services, shows off a mason bee house built by Franklin High School students that the Master Gardeners are giving away at the celebration.
“We want families to come, we want elders, we want all different kinds of people here,” Lautz emphasized. “The garden is for everyone, and we want to make it super accessible for the community.”
The Learning Gardens Laboratory Earth Day Celebration again offered neighbors a chance to stroll the beds, talk with gardeners and educators, and discover local groups working on environmental and food issues – all in a welcoming outdoor classroom and gathering space.
Throughout the afternoon, guests continue drifting among plant sales, vendor tables, and hands-on art activities around the garden.
Organizers indicated that the celebration has been a free public event but said that donations were accepted to support the garden’s education and community programs. The site, at 6745 S.E. 60th Avenue, continues to host garden education and community activities throughout the growing season – inviting neighbors to, as Lautz put it, “come support the Earth that loves and supports you.”
Learn more about the LGL at their website: CLICK HERE.
© 2026 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
