Ithaca Children’s Garden Celebrates International Mud Day
FREYJA HILL
On June 29, the Ithaca Children’s Garden hosted its thirteenth annual celebration of International Mud Day. The attendees celebrated the human connection to nature by letting loose and playing in the mud. Hundreds of visitors come every year to this admissions-free event to have a “mudtastic adventure,” in the words of the Garden.
International Mud Day began in 2008 in Nepal, where the day commemorates the start of the rice-growing season. In Ithaca, the Garden celebrates the mud that provides nutrients for plants and shelter and food for birds and insects. During this celebration, individuals of all ages and even pets can be seen throughout the garden soaking in sludge up to their necks.
“I mean just look at the joy,” one parent watching their child from the sidelines said. Though for some parents, a rainy day in the mud is not the ideal way to spend the day, they still made the trip to see the look on their kids’ faces. One parent compared this look to that of seeing Disneyland for the first time.
Tents were set up all throughout the garden, including a Home Depot art tent, tents with information on existing in harmony with the earth, and a snack shack.
Guitars and drums wavered through the rain, echoing back to the compost-themed band, Rot and Roll: a local band dedicated to sharing stories of all things green, led by Travis Knapp.
Part of creating a harmonious relationship with the earth is accepting all parts of nature, including those that are less pleasurable. Though for some a rainy day can bring about a sense of gloominess, the rain was no complication for the community that the Ithaca Children’s Garden attracts every year for Mud Day.
International Mud Day 2022 at Ithaca Children’s Garden. Kate Collins/Ithaca Journal
Southside Community Center Hosts Annual Juneteenth Festival
By TARAN KNUTSON
On Saturday, June 15, the Ithaca Southside Community Center hosted a festival to celebrate Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the abolition of slavery in the United States. The event spanned many hours and was open to anyone who wished to attend. Several food choices as well as clothes and other items from local artists were for sale.
Stands set up outside offered information about various groups working for Black welfare in Ithaca and beyond, including the Ithaca Tenants Union, the Ithaca chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Communist Party of the United States of America, the Sciencenter, and the Ithaca Children’s Garden.
The festival took place in a three-block area that was closed to traffic for its duration. Along with inspiring speeches about community, a central stage hosted a performance by the Community Unity Music Education Program, breakdancing, poetry, and more.
Ithacans gather at the 2023 Juneteenth Celebration at Southside Community Center. Dominick Recckio/Tompkins County Government