Tanyard Creek Community Garden Founder Walter Kellar Named 2017 Sally Wylde Cultivating Life Award Winner by the Wylde Center

Leonard Thibadeau (left) nominated Walter Kellar (right) for the Wylde Center's award.

Decatur resident Walter Kellar has received the Wylde Center and City of Decatur’s 2017 Sally Wylde Cultivating Life Award. Kellar was honored for conceiving and helping to create the Tanyard Creek Community Garden on a creekside floodplain within the City of Decatur. The award is named for Sally Wylde, who passed away in 2010 and whose family was honored with the first award. Other previous winners include Louise Jackson, co-founder of the Oakhurst Garden, Greg Levine for his work with Trees Atlanta, sustainability leader Frank Burdette, Erin Johnson and the Morse family, who donated the Decatur property now known as Woodlands Garden.

Kellar owns a home that borders on a parcel of land owned by the City of Decatur and identified as an overflow area for periodic flooding of Tanyard Creek due to extreme rainfall. While the greenspace was maintained by the city, it was not utilized for any purpose other than to keep potential floodwater contained. Kellar approached the city and his neighbors with his idea of creating a community garden on the property.

“Walter held meetings in his home to organize a gardening group and enlisted a landscape architect neighbor to create a plan for the site,” said Leonard Thibadeau, who nominated Kellar for the award. “He created bylaws and disclaimers to meet the city’s requirements. Today, there are about 30 gardeners working in 30 gardening plots. The garden is completely organic and maintains a 25-foot natural buffer to the creek, per the city’s requirements. The garden and creek are home to hawks, owls, rabbits, otters, small fish and crayfish. In addition to the vegetables and flowers that are grown, blueberries, figs elderberries, blackberries, mayhaws and pawpaws have been planted and are flourishing.”

“Thanks to Walter’s idea and efforts, he and his neighbors have transformed an underused city greenspace into a beautiful and productive garden,” said Stephanie Van Parys, executive director of the Wylde Center. “He and his neighbors have become a community of gardeners and have created a productive oasis in the heart of the city. Just as our founder Sally Wylde did in her own neighborhood, Walter has connected people and plants and exemplified the Wylde Center’s mission of environmental stewardship. He is a perfect recipient for the Sally Wylde Cultivating Life Award.”

About the Sally Wylde Cultivating Life Award:

Established in 2010 by the Wylde Center and the City of Decatur, the Sally Wylde Cultivating Life Award annually recognizes an individual or organization in Decatur making an extraordinary contribution to the community and its natural environment. The award is presented to those who demonstrate qualities held dear and embodied by Sally Wylde, an artist, environmentalist, activist, and educator whose work and life have inspired people of all ages to become better caretakers of the earth, of one another, and of themselves. The award acknowledges an exceptional and lasting positive impact with efforts through many venues, such as nonprofit and service organizations, public agencies, schools, institutions and faith communities.

About the Wylde Center

For two decades, the Wylde Center has been growing, educating and greening. From the seed of an idea in 1997, the Wylde Center has blossomed into an environmental organization that oversees five distinctive greenspaces, conducts a year-round educational program for all ages, hosts social events and delivers farm to school programming in Decatur and Atlanta schools. Staff and volunteers engage children, families and individuals in activities designed to develop creative skills in sustainable urban living, organic gardening, health and nutrition. Despite its robust growth, the Wylde Center has stayed true to its original mission of cultivating vibrant greenspaces for everyone to enjoy, and inspiring communities of environmental stewards. The Wylde Center is supported by memberships, donations, volunteers and grants. It’s never been a better time to get involved with this homegrown environmental resource! Visit www.wyldecenter.org for more information.