The White Lake Community Gardens were merely a twinkle in local resident Amber Marks' eye just four months ago, when she first pitched the idea to the Whitehall city council. Now the garden, located on the old tennis courts adjacent to the city hall, is up and running.
"It was definitely cool to see that we were able to get a garden planted this first year," Marks said. "It was obviously a goal, but we didn't know if it would be reasonable. It was exciting the city went for it, but also that the community is engaging with it right off the bat."
"I don't know if I was surprised (at how quickly it happened), but I'm happy with how many people are showing interest in and getting excited about it," said local artist Ann Kraus, who co-founded the garden with Marks.
The garden has been fully operational since three build days at the beginning of July brought community volunteers together. Donations from many local entities made it possible to get things going, including totes from Walmart, wood and screws from White Lake Garage Condos owner Elie Ghazal, and more.
"The last build day, we had 5-6 people there who were really committed and pulled it all together in just a matter of a few hours," Marks said. "It was cool to see how much we could accomplish in such a short time."
Marks grew up in southwest Michigan, and as the garden came together, she and Kraus took some inspiration from a community garden in that region in Three Oaks, a small town about half the population of Whitehall that nevertheless has a thriving garden. They also gained supportive feedback from the community garden at Scholl Farms in Montague, and plan to go on a "field trip" to another such garden in Muskegon.
Marks reports that community feedback and participation have been strong, and both founders have been especially pleased to see that younger and older residents alike have shown interest in the garden.
"I think it's cool, the array of ages that we have," Kraus said. "We have young kids who are very interested in volunteering their time to come over and help, and we have older people as well who are giving their advice and gardening wisdom. It's very welcome."
Several herb plants are already ripe and ready to be picked, and tomato and pepper plants will soon be ripe as well. Volunteers sign up on Facebook to take turns swinging by and watering the garden to keep the plants growing.
The location of the garden, just a few blocks from downtown, was no accident; the founders wanted to have it in a place readily accessible to foot and bike traffic as well as by car. They envision a future in which community members can swing by and grab a tomato to be part of their evening meal.
There are few limits, at least in the minds of the founders, to what the garden can be. Marks and Kraus have also have received public support from the city, who previously approved the use of the tennis court space for the garden; council member Jeff Holmstrom complimented the garden at a recent meeting and said he'd love to see it take up the entire space formerly occupied by the courts.
In Kraus' mind, there's no reason the garden's growth would need to stop there.
"I personally see us taking up as much space as the city will let us," Kraus said. "I can see it growing into having more perennials too, berry vines and bushes growing up the fencing, and people coming in to graze. It would be a great space for people to come in...We'd also love to have space that can be enjoyed as eating areas, and native plants and pollinator gardens. it can be as big as we want it to be."
"Really, it's just seeing what an asset it can grow into for the community," Marks added. "Adding a whole food forest could do so much, not just to create a beautiful space to be in, but to help people who need it."
Community feedback is welcomed; during build days, volunteers were consulted about what they'd like to see planted in the garden. The garden also hosts biweekly meetings on Monday evenings, with the most recent one taking place this last Monday, July 21. Information about future meetings can be found on the garden's Facebook page. The founders intend to continue meeting during the winter, so there can be a strong plan in place to enact before the start of the 2026 growing season.
"Now it's really about maintaining the garden this year and putting together the vision for next year," Marks said. "That's what will allow us to expand in the future, is getting community support and involvement. We welcome any feedback on what people would like to see this become."
