Quick exercise in free association: what’s the common thread between rock -n- rollin’ vegetables, friendly farmers, technicolor picnic blankets, and angelic strawberries?

Sound like a radical vision for healthy eating? You better believe it. Those images & more were generated by the creative minds of students at Concord International Elementary. Sponsored by the Healthy Foods for South Park project, students painted responses to the question “what does healthy eating look like?” After a difficult judging contest and much deliberation, local artist Glenn Case synthesized the 21 winning pieces into a beautiful mural that community members helped install last Friday.

In addition to the mural, students stuffed new scarecrows, decorated our worm bins, planted flowers in old shoes, and even found time to snarf down healthy snacks donated by Central Co-op & Essential Baking Co. We send our sincere thanks to the flock of volunteers who patiently crowd-controlled this event to success, and to our Healthy Foods for South Park project partners at ECOSS, Community Coalition for Environmental Justice, and P-Patch. Thanks also to the sun for all that shining.

But most especially, thank you to the Concord International Elementary School students who composed this mural and helped us paint it! We are so appreciative of Ruby and the staff of the YMCA Community Learning Center after-school program, as well as Ms. Myles and the other Concord teachers and staff who stopped by to paint, plant and snack with us and the students.

If you’d like to help us put the final touches on the mural, we’ll be out with our paintbrushes next Wednesday, June 1 at 1:30pm. Please R.S.V.P. to Amelia at amelias@solid-ground.org.

Photographer Sally Phnouk generously took many pictures of this event that are available for your viewing pleasure here.