Kids really dug the Elizabeth St. Garden’s third annual Harvest Fest last Saturday afternoon. In addition to digging, they also enjoyed face and pumpkin painting and puppet making, plus creating greeting cards with pasted-on leaves from the garden, the latter activity which was added this year, actually mainly for adults. Also for grown-ups, there was a Neil Young cover band, which played a one-hour set in front of the garden’s gazebo, and a cooking demonstration. The space, which neighborhood residents only discovered was city owned three years ago, has become a cherished amenity in open space-starved Little Italy, but is threatened by a planned affordable housing project. Harvest Fest-goers were asked to send letters to the mayor and all the area’s elected officials, begging them to spare the beloved, unique green space from the wrecking ball. No other nearby parks have real grass like the garden does, advocates note.
