Bringing Extension Downtown

Resumen

In 2017 and 2018, the University of Florida/IFAS St. Lucie County Extension attempted to address the need to develop relationships with new, potential Extension advocates within the community. The revitalization of downtown business districts combined with the emergence of interest in locally produced products has yielded an increase in patrons to downtown businesses. These patrons are looking to be informed about local issues, goods, and services. University of Florida Extension faculty in St Lucie County created the “Sip and Sow” program to develop relationships with new potential Extension advocates within this downtown market. The program was designed to teach participants the benefits of container gardening through a hands-on demonstration project where participants were shown how to build a self-watering container garden out of a 5-gallon bucket. A relationship was developed with a local downtown micro-brewery to host the events, and the Extension agents held demonstration programs on multiple occasions. The program has reached 67 community members and agents plan on expanding this program in the future.