Saturday morning, April 18, the Patricia Davis Community Garden at 1089 NW 6th Avenue felt less like a quiet neighborhood plot and more like a community festival — because, for three hours, that’s exactly what it was.
Pompano Beach’s official Earth Day Celebration ran from 9 AM to noon and managed to pack the garden with hands-on activities, education stations and the kind of small, community-driven moments that make spring in South Florida feel particularly nice.
What was happening
Programming ran on a half-hour rolling schedule, so attendees could drift from one station to the next:
- 10 AM: Herbalist Class, Homestead Learning, Flower Pressing & Bouquet Class
- 11 AM: Ladybug Release led by Pompano Proud — a local favorite, especially for kids
- 11:30 AM: Banana Education (a working banana plot tour)
Throughout the morning, the garden also hosted compost talks, a stretching/massage station, sound healing and meditation sessions, tree donations and tree plantings, and recycling/repurposing demos. It was the rare event where you could leave with a baby plant, a pressed flower bouquet, and a refreshed sense of why we recycle.
The ladybug release
Pompano Proud’s ladybug release was the highlight for families. Volunteers handed out small biodegradable containers of native ladybugs, and at 11 AM the entire garden of attendees opened their containers at once — the kind of moment that turns into the day’s photo on every neighborhood social feed. (For the record: ladybugs are a natural pest control for backyard vegetable gardens, and Pompano Proud uses them as part of its broader pollinator program.)
Why it worked
The Patricia Davis Community Garden has been one of the city’s quiet success stories. It’s a small footprint with outsized impact — a place where local residents, master gardeners, and the city’s Parks & Recreation team have built something that functions equally well as urban farm, classroom, and community gathering space.
Saturday’s Earth Day event leaned into all three. Kids got hands in the dirt. Adults got a copy of the city’s recycling guide and a tomato seedling. Everyone got reminded that being a coastal city doesn’t have to mean ignoring what’s happening on the land side.
The next community open day at the garden is the regular Saturday morning Green Market — worth a visit if you missed Earth Day or just want fresh herbs straight from the source.
