Free Screening of Award-Winning “How We Grow” Documentary April 20th with Community Q&A Celebrating Michigan Farmers
Presented in Frankfort by Grow Benzie and Stormcloud Brewing Company. Hosted by The Garden Theater.
Several local organizations will join forces on Saturday April 20th to present a free community screening of “How We Grow” at 4:00 PM at The Garden Theater in Frankfort, Michigan. The award-winning film is a moving exploration of ambitious young farmers building community around locally grown food in the Roaring Fork Valley of Western Colorado.
Guests will be welcomed on a first-come first-served basis. RSVPs are not required but membership sign-ups to Grow Benzie are encouraged as part of their Spring Membership Drive.
The 65-minute documentary will be followed by a live discussion with Josh Stoltz (Executive Director of Grow Benzie), Carissa Savage (Lost Lake Farm), Bernie Ware (Ware Farm), Paul May (May Farm), Carol Bontekoe (New Dawn Fields) and moderated by Joseph Beyer (Executive Director of Michigan Legacy Art Park). Co-Director Tomas Zuccareno will join the Q&A by video.
“Within all the community work Grow Benzie has accomplished the past decade, food continues to be a common denominator,” said Josh Stoltz. “More and more, people are starting to value the food they’re putting into their bodies. Whether because of health reasons or understanding the economic impact, folks are looking for healthful foods and ways to support local farmers. This film does an excellent job of illustrating how communities evolve, and grow, around food and farms,” he added.
“How We Grow” tells a story beyond the farmers markets and local food access, and into the ways in which communities rebuild themselves around agriculture. It’s a coming-of-age story of a region re-learning how to thrive together and growing stronger in the process.
Inspired by the drive and dedication of the next generation of agricultural leaders in the Roaring Fork Valley, the film explores land access, income inequality, and discovers ways to get healthy, sustainably produced, locally grown, nutrient dense food onto the tables of families everywhere.
Healthy soil depends on many organisms working together. A healthy community needs the same. “How We Grow” looks at the characters and systems of farming, education, legislation, micro-finance, and food equity that are shifting the ways we think about food and our relationship to the land.
“How We Grow” is written, directed, produced and edited by Haley Thompson and Tomas Zuccareno. The project appeared at the 2016 Redford Center Story Summit, 5 Point Film Festival and the Colorado Environmental Film Festival.
“We hope that if community leaders and young people see our movie, they’ll be inspired to create the systems that support young people to become farmers, so that more young people will make that choice. There’s a lot of important pieces of a puzzle that have to fall together and ‘How We Grow’ is kind of a roadmap to all those pieces.” — Tomas Zuccareno
Grow Benzie is a non-profit organization with a mission to increase access to healthful foods, jobs, life skills and each other, and provide a space that nurtures this activity. The 4-acre community center is formerly a commercial plant nursery which includes greenhouses, event center, commercial kitchen, sewing studio, and makerspace. Programs include an incubator farm, food truck, farmers market and after school activities. For information visit GrowBenzie.org
Stormcloud Brewing Company opened in 2013 just two blocks from Lake Michigan in the port city of Frankfort, Michigan. They specialize in brewing Belgian Inspired ales, including the traditional Dubbel, Tripel and Strong Ales, along with classic beer styles such as Blondes, Pale Ales, IPAs, Porters, and Stouts. Stormcloud’s downtown pub features 16 taps pouring their handcrafted beer, plus cider and wine.
The Garden Theater, located in downtown Frankfort, Michigan, was built in 1923. From all accounts, it has been in continuous operation since that time. In 2008, the theatre was purchased by a group of community members with the intent of renovating the building and giving life back to this Northern Michigan treasure.
It closed for extensive renovations and re-opened on June 18, 2009 with great fanfare with a new state of the art heating and cooling system, Dolby digital sound and projection, and new theater seats from Irwin Seating in Grand Rapids. The theater entrance area and iconic marquee were restored to their original Art Deco brilliance.
The renaissance of The Garden Theatre continues thanks to hundreds of volunteer hours, investors, and the incredible spirit of the local community.
