Sunnyside Community Gardens shuts down operations

The community garden has been in operation since 2016 and worked to provide thousands of pounds of produce to the West Bloomington community. (Photo courtesy: City of Bloomington/File)

By WMBD

BLOOMINGTON – A West Bloomington farm announced that it has officially shut down operations on Monday.

The Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest announced on Facebook that they have left the land they have been operating on.

The community garden has been in operation since 2016 and worked to provide thousands of pounds of produce to the West Bloomington community.

Their last act was to donate their remaining funds to several local non-profits. They also donated their equipment.

The garden was started as a partnership with the Boys & Girls Club. The garden provided summer programming to teach local children about gardening and to teach children to connect with nature.

Starting in 2021, the garden also employed local teens and gave them opportunities to visit job seminars, tours of Heartland Community College, cooking classes and other personal development activities.

The garden announced last year that it would be closing at the end of the season due to a lack of funding.

WMBD can be reached at [email protected].

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