GreenThumb is the parks department program behind the city’s community gardens, and once a year it throws a harvest fair that is less a festival about gardening than a festival you garden at. The 46th edition is in Bed-Stuy.
- When — Saturday, October 3, 2026, 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.
- Where — Herbert Von King Park, Greene Avenue and Marcy Avenue, Brooklyn, plus the adjoining Hattie Carthan Community Garden.
- Cost — Free. The site is listed as an accessible location.
- Take something home — Free daffodil bulbs and seedlings, and a pumpkin you pick from the harvest patch and decorate (carving too, if you want it messy).
- Workshops and tours — Educational gardening workshops and plant-based creative workshops like flora printing, community garden tours, and storytelling.
- Games and hands-on stuff — Scarecrow building for your garden, arts and crafts, face painting, lawn games (cornhole, sack race, tic-tac-toe, corn toss, jumbo games), and fitness classes.
- Who else is there — Tabling from NYC botanical gardens, community-based programs, and city agencies, answering questions about their own programming.
The centerpiece is the GreenThumb Fresh Chef Contest. Guest chef Hisham “Ham” El-Waylly — Brooklyn chef, recipe developer, and co-owner of Strange Delight — demonstrates a surprise dish, then contestants race to make their own version of it while Marlon Rice of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation MCs. A panel of VIP chefs including El-Waylly picks the top three. Ages 16 and up can compete, but pre-registration is required and closes once the contest hits capacity.
The deadline that actually matters this week is the volunteer one: Friday, September 18. Volunteers must be 18 or older, commit to the full event day (10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.), and attend a one-hour virtual orientation. Lunch and volunteer swag are included, and the sign-up is a form linked from the event page. If you just want to show up and eat, walk the garden tours, and carry home a pumpkin, no sign-up is needed at all.