Sowing Chairy Seeds
Chairy Orchard prior to closing
There comes a point in every plant’s lifecycle when it transitions from creating beauty to reproducing the next generation of plants to add to the local ecosystem. Its flowers fade and its leaves wither while it pours all of its energy into casting as many seeds as possible on nearby soil to reproduce a greater number of plants in the next generation. Such is now the role of Chairy Orchard, and we the community should take up the challenge.
image from unsplash
Beloved Chairy Orchard is a prime example of organic, community-led action to make Denton better, one step at a time. It combined quintessential Denton elements of zany, artistic, hand-crafted, and semi-secret or understated. But what made it special was that it was not locked away in someone’s backyard, but was rather offered as a public Third Place for the good of all Denton residents. It became a gathering place, a meeting place, and a respite from the worries of life where you couldn’t help but smile with child-like glee. That all came to an end last week, when the curators of Chairy Orchard who have poured their heart and soul into this project for the last eight years decided they could not keep up with tending the orchard in light of vandalism.
But what if this is just the beginning?
What if the legacy of neighbors Judy Smith and Ann Pearson is not just a time capsule that will fade but live on within our photo albums, but an inspiration to create Third Places in neighborhoods all around Denton? What if the passing of this treasure spurs you and me to create community by creating community spaces? That is a legacy that would not only keep the spirit of Chairy Orchard alive, but show how the idea of two neighbors can spread like seeds and pollinate community gathering spots and Third Places in neighborhoods all across Denton.
Third Places provide low-barrier gathering spaces to form community, and professional planners are now recognizing how the development pattern our regulations have mandated has isolated people as our traditional Third Places are lost. As the Project for Public Spaces recently wrote:
For far too long, the shaping of public spaces has been left to architects and urban planners, who plan from the top down. This has left many people feeling disconnected from the places that are supposed to serve their needs.
How can we correct the faults of top-down thinking? With bottom up action. After all, you know your neighbors’ needs best. Don’t feel the need to create a vast space. In fact, it should start small, just like Chairy Orchard did. Find your old lawn games in your garage and set them out front with a sign and a bell inviting neighbors to ring for others and come play. Set bubbles outside and see what happens. Bring some drinks out and spur conversations with new friendships. And if you were lucky enough to snag a beloved Chairy Orchard chair, by all means use that as a catalyst for your new collection.
These gathering places or social infrastructure do much more than give us a hobby. They increase social cohesion, enhance social capital, and make every one of us more resilient. The IFRC has a helpful introduction to how these relational networks help our society, and how to build them.
Denton is your town. Make it thrive.
Denton is amazing because of its people. The curators of Chairy Orchard have given us so much over the past eight years, and it’s now time to give back. They have sown the seeds, and It’s time now to catch the seeds of desire for community and plant it in our hearts, our yards, and our neighborhoods.
Share about the Third Places you create and tag Stronger Denton on social media!
