photo by: Kathy Hanks

Melissa Freiburger, executive director of the non-profit project Sunrise Project, stood by the community garden Thursday morning, March 29, 2019, at the corner of 15th and Learned St. The garden beds are ready for planting and between noon and 3 p.m., Saturday, March 30, the public is invited to come to eat lunch and help kick-off its community garden.

The Sunrise Project is kicking off its garden work for the season on Saturday, and the nonprofit is inviting the community to come out and help — rain or shine.

Although the National Weather Service is predicting a 40 percent chance of rain for Saturday, Melissa Freiburger, executive director of the Sunrise Project, said there will be planting going on in the greenhouses on the nonprofit’s property, 1501 Learnard Ave., regardless of the weather.

This year, Freiburger said the Sunrise Project will also have accessible beds so that wheelchair users and people who can’t spend long periods of time on their feet can do some gardening, too.

The event begins at noon with lunch, which will include both vegan and nonvegan options and will be available for a free-will donation, Freiburger said. At 1 p.m., the new accessible garden beds will be dedicated, and planting will go on until 3 p.m., according to the event’s Facebook page. There will also be live music from two youth bands.

The Sunrise Project’s community garden offers free produce for anyone who stops by to harvest it throughout the growing season, Freiburger said. The nonprofit also has a community kitchen and classrooms that people and organizations can rent.

To learn more about the Sunrise Project, go to sunriseprojectks.org.

photo by: John Clayton

Several activities this weekend will lead up to the KU Powwow and Indigenous Cultures Festival April 6, 2019. This photo is from the KU Powwow in 2018 at the Lied Center.

Grass house construction and indigenous art talk

On April 6, the annual Powwow and Indigenous Cultures Festival will return to the University of Kansas’ west campus, but before then, people might notice a grass house being built outside the Lied Center.

While the center has built smaller models of traditional grass houses for the powwow, this is the first time the event will feature a full-size grass house, said Anthea Scouffas, the center’s engagement and education director.

Gerald Miller, a traditional dwelling builder with the Wichita tribe of Oklahoma, is currently collecting the natural grasses that will be used to build the structure, Scouffas said. The work should begin over the weekend outside of the Lied Center, 1600 Stewart Drive, and Scouffas said the best days to see the construction will be Saturday and Sunday, weather permitting.

photo by: Contributed photo

An example of the Wichita grass house which will be built by a Wichita elder and traditional dwelling builder, near the Lied Center, ahead of the KU Powwow and Indigenous culture festival, April 6, 2019, at the Lied Center.

Also in advance of the powwow, indigenous artist Steven Grounds, of El Reno, Okla., will give a talk from 4:30 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Cider Gallery, 810 Pennsylvania St., according to the Indigenous Cultures Festival Facebook page. A reception for Grounds and other Indigenous artists will follow from from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the gallery.