Grow Benzie is hosting a Midsummer Night's Garden Party July 12. The event will include food and beverages from numerous local chefs and establishments, including Grow Benzie’s own Chef Errik, who manages the establishment’s new food truck.

The event will include live and silent auctions, feature such items as Masters Tournament golf tickets, artwork, jewelry, even gift baskets such as a family package for the Frankfort Film Festival. 

Tickets are available online  or at the facility’s farmers market on Mondays from 3-7pm. Tickets are also available for the Bayou on the Bay: Blues & Zydeco Picnic in the Park in Frankfort on Aug. 13.

 Grow Benzie was established in September of 2008 when a group of local residents organized to renovate an abandoned Benzonia farmstead into a community-centered garden space. A year later it was providing garden plots for 20 individuals. Eventually it began to offer educational opportunities, the greenhouses and assembly building were upgraded for full-time use, and a sewing studio was created in the home office.

Grow Benzie’s mission is to enrich the region by fostering positive action to increase access to healthful foods, jobs, and life skills, and by providing a community place that supports and nurtures these activities. Over the past two years, it has hosted over 100 seminars, workshops, concerts, and classes in farming, gardening, nutrition, entrepreneurship, and culinary arts.