Good Way Gardens

Goal: $10,000.00

Specific Need

Good Way Gardens presents free, all-ages, outdoor concerts, and an educational garden space. We're working in collaboration with the Lyon County History Center to provide programming at their historic Howe House property.

We celebrate culture by presenting diverse musical acts, both local favorites and touring artists from around the nation, in a free, outdoor concert for the whole family.

We use our contributions to pay the musicians and artists who produce the concerts, as well as supply our garden spaces with the inputs and materials they need to be productive.

"Good Way Sunday" is the name of our concert series. Concerts happen on the first Sunday of every month at the Richard Howe House, located at 315 E Logan Ave, Emporia, KS. The Lyon County History Center contributes this space in-kind for our events.

These events are free, family-friendly, and open to everyone. Attendees enjoy live music, participate in hands-on art projects provided by Good Way Gardens and the Emporia Arts Council ArtMobile, and explore the 15 acres of tallgrass prairie on the property.

We are expanding our on-site community garden to provide more food for the community. We hold workshops and volunteer days where the community can learn about native plants, work together to cultivate and process foods, and be encouraged to grow them in their own backyards.

We are so close to reaching ECF's minimum balance of $10,000. We are confident that 2025 Match Day will put us past that mark and set us on a path to becoming a truly sustainable and long-lasting organization in the community.

Mission

Good Way Gardens was founded in 2023 by Elexa Dawson (enrolled Citizen Potawatomi Nation) to combine her love for music, land, and community organizing, in pursuit of what the Potawatomi call mno bmadzewen, life lived in a good way.

Good Way Gardens’ mission is to produce family-friendly, accessible events and cultivate a garden venue, with big-picture goals of connecting people to their roots in the earth and creating a culture of sustainability in Emporia.

Art thrives in reciprocal relationships with the natural world. Good Way believes it is the right and responsibility of all beings to return to the earth for our original instructions as people, to live in a way that respects all life. By combining plants and music, Good Way Gardens offers the community a venue for connection to land through arts.

Profile

Good Way Gardens seeks to build deeply-rooted sustainable community through art. Our collaborations speak to our values - community, sustainability, and creativity.

Collaborative partners:
Lyon County History Center
ESU - PAROC
House of Morrow
Emporia Arts Council ArtMobile + Coffee & Clay Club
Lyon County Food & Farm Council