Swissvale Edible Garden Tour - The First Five Years!

Year One - 2019

Early in 2019 a small group of Swissvale gardeners got together to plan the first garden tour - we thought it would be a fun community event that would bring neighbors together and showcase Swissvale.

Swissvale artist (and fellow garden tour planner) Jenna Colby created art for our event signs and promotion, which was we all loved and was a highlight of the first year of the tour. The planning group worked together to sew and screen print all of the garden stop signage.

Year Two - 2020

The early COVID-era tour

We were planning on building upon the first year with a similar event format, but that changed as we adapted to event planning early on during the pandemic. We thought the community would enjoy some kind of event, though, even if it wouldn’t be the same. Instead, we put together a socially distanced version of the tour, focused on garden spaces that could be seen from the streets, sidewalks, and alleys.

Swissvale artist Jenna Colby designed amazing event art for us again for 2020.

Year Three - 2021

Photography by Rachel Liang, sponsored by Porter Loves

Schedule and promotion for 2021 event

Year Four - 2022

We worked with local artist and designer Ruby Western to develop a fun new logo, which features a different crop every year. The first year’s logo featured a beet, which we highlighted in our screen-printed T-shirts and the event promotion.

Year Five - 2023

2023 marks five years of annual garden tours and 125 years of Swissvale’s incorporation as a borough. We’ll be celebrating five years of tours along with our community’s Quasquicentennial.