Green Flea, Past & Present
By Shelby Beckner, CGC Community Engagement Coordinator
No matter what it’s called (now GrowFest!), we all know and love the CGC’s annual spring plant event, with its long history of offering great plants and resources to Cincinnati-area gardeners. But what do you know about the Green Flea?
This long-standing booth turns your donated used tools and garden treasures into funds for the CGC’s mission and work—all while keeping items out of the landfill and giving used tools and gardening supplies a new lease on life. The Green Flea would not be possible without the dedication and support of the incredible volunteers who have kept it alive and well for years: primarily Cindy Schrader, Karen Sills and Jane Geiger.
Cindy Schrader & Karen Sills
The Green Flea has always been a labor of love, and for many years, that labor was supplied by past CGC board presidents Cindy Schrader and Karen Sills. Cindy began coming to the spring plant sale as a young girl with her father and their wagon. Over the years, she became a CGC volunteer, then a board member and finally the board president!
Karen found her way to the CGC through her good friend Cindy and fell in love with the organization and mission. She felt there was really nowhere like it in Cincinnati—an “urban oasis” as she put it. Like Cindy, Karen began as a volunteer and went on to become a board member and then board president as well.
When Cindy and Karen took over the Green Flea in 2015, they resurrected and expanded the operation. What started as a booth for used garden tools with a smattering of golf balls, for some reason as they recall, morphed into the well-oiled machine that the Green Flea is today, with its emphasis on recycling and repurposing tools and garden treasures to keep them out of the landfill. Cindy and Karen were always on the hunt for Green Flea items, driving around in different neighborhoods. They had a great network and developed a community phone tree. If you had unused garden items, you knew who to call! They would help friends and neighbors clean out garages and basements and pick up old tools stored in the backyard. Their support system was full of friends who would help move, repair, price and store Green Flea items before the plant sale. It was truly a team effort!
This quote from Cindy Schrader really gets to the heart of what the Green Flea is all about: " As gardeners, it is common for us to share plants, place them in our gardens and then reflect on the person who gave them to us. The Green Flea is similar, I think. For years someone used these gardening tools, sat on the porch furniture or enjoyed the ‘yard art’ donated to the Green Flea. It provides an opportunity to pass on these things once necessary but no longer needed, for others to enjoy and savor. When I buy something from the Green Flea, not only am I donating to the Civic Garden Center's mission, I am inheriting items that once graced fellow gardeners' landscape, living spaces, dug holes or pruned and chopped!"
Jane Geiger & the Green Flea Today
Since 2021, the Green Flea has been helmed by Jane Geiger. Jane began as a volunteer helping Cindy and Karen run the booth, and once Cindy and Karen were ready to step down, they knew they were leaving the Green Flea in the most capable of hands. Collecting and sorting through donated items, prepping and pricing it all and running the sale make for a huge job, but Jane and her volunteers have always been up to the task. We’re eternally grateful for all the work all three of these women have lovingly poured into the Green Flea on the CGC’s behalf.
There are always treasures to find at the Green Flea booth, and those treasures are all thanks to our wonderful community! Don’t forget to check out the Green Flea booth (located in the GLS parking lot) at GrowFest on Saturday, May 4 this year. Who knows what treasures you’ll discover?