Small event, big impact Dirt magazine’s Kitchen Garden Tour ranks with major national events

Dirt’s Kitchen Garden Tour gained national recognition as a finalist for the 2018 Association of Magazine Media’s Imagination Awards. The local mag’s competitors? National heavyweights such as Smithsonian Media, and MIT Technology Review.

Dirt’s annual garden hopping event, now in its fifth year, has gained momentum in Orange and Sussex counties, often selling out days before. It isn’t your average garden tour: flowers are optional. Instead, the Kitchen Garden Tour shines a spotlight on local food growers raising everything from zucchini, berries, and kale to honeybees and chickens in their own backyards. Over a dozen different gardens open their gates to the public once a year for this one-day-event, offering attendees unique insight, tips, and hands-on experience they couldn’t get elsewhere. Afterwards, attendees and gardeners gather at farm-to-table restaurant Mohawk House to enjoy beer, wine, local eats, and live music.

The event, returning July 29, promises to inspire and entertain. “This is where the revolution starts,” said former attendee Nathan Johnson, “taking back and reconnecting with our land, our food, our health, and our communities.”

The small, grassroots event is facing-off against MIT’s presentation on Blockchain Technology—aside from being educational, the competitors couldn’t be more different.

“It is outstanding to see the breadth of titles entered in this year’s Imagination Awards,” said Linda Thomas Brooks, MPA president. “The 2018 finalists reflect the diversity in the IMAG community and prove that independent media brands continue to create groundbreaking and impactful programs.”

Get your Kitchen Garden Tour tickets before they’re gone: www.kitchengardentours.com