By Rose Chavez
Food System/Food Equity Coalition
This past Sunday, community members from Vista and surrounding neighborhoods gathered together with the FSFE — Food Coalition and Pagosa Lakes Property Owners Association (PLPOA) for an evening to learn about the Vista Lake Park project.
Board member Ricardo Martinez co-facilitated the meeting in English and Spanish alongside Rose Chavez, FSFE — Food Coalition project lead, who shared about the Vista Lake Park effort taking place since this past summer 2021 through summer 2022. At this event, the community was invited to participate in the evening’s activities to connect, share, learn and dream about the future site of a community garden and park space located behind the PLPOA administrative buildings.
The evening started with a presentation that highlighted the history of the Vista Lake Park effort and the work of the FSFE — Food Coalition supporting diverse community solutions. Then community members gathered in small groups for a series of exercises to share food and gardening stories, all in an effort to generate a shared vision of the future site. Music and a dinner of red and green chile, pinto beans, potatoes and tortillas was lovingly prepared by local community members and served to participants by youth volunteers.
Gratitude to everyone who showed up and volunteered alongside your faithful Food Coalition friends to advance food equity and nutrition security in Archuleta County. The FSFE — Food Coalition is excited to join together again in early December to work on the next steps supporting Vista to increase access to fresh foods through the Vista Lake Park project.
For more information about the Vista Lake Park project, please contact the Food Coalition at community@fsfearchuleta.org or by calling (401) 371-3227.
