Photo by Susan Ruiz Patton. 

Through a crazy coincidence of events, the Akron League of Creative Interventionists found themselves with a lot of seeds.

So they did what anybody else would do; they planted them and gave away the rest.

Not only did it give them great fuel for a Light-themed intervention, but it also seeded a sweet giveaway for May’s Brave theme.

Each month the league builds an event around a theme set by its founder, San-Francisco-based artist Hunter Franks. Knight Foundation provided more than $55,000 for Franks to create similar community connections in four Knight cities: Akron, Detroit, Philadelphia and Macon, Ga. April’s theme was Light and May’s was Brave.

The seed riches began when one of the interventionists, Beth Vild, participated in an Earth Day event at the Summit Lake Community Center in late April, said David Swirsky, leader of the Akron interventionists. “A bunch of us got seeds from Beth. I don’t even know the individual count.”

Then later at a Keep Akron Beautiful event, they participated in a plant swap. “We swapped some stuff and Megan [Shane] won some more seeds in a raffle,” Swirsky said. Shane has been co-leading the intervention group with Swirsky.

The plan is to adopt some urban community garden plots and plant those seeds, he said.

What will they do with the harvest of vegetables and herbs?

“It depends on how successful we are,” Swirsky said with a chuckle. And he admitted he doesn’t have much experience with gardening. “Maybe we will have our own little potluck [dinner] or open it up to the community. Definitely collaborate with other arts organizations or community garden organizations.”

Those seeds even came in to play in the Akron interventionists’ participation in the recent Better Block Akron event.

Better Block took over a block in the North Hill neighborhood of Akron May 15-17 and filled empty storefronts and empty lots with businesses, dining, family activities and performances. The point was to show people how exciting the neighborhood could become with a little investment.

Shane led the team to create an artistic centerpiece right at the center of a farmers market that occupied a large empty lot on North Main Street near Cuyahoga Falls Avenue.  Recycling the heart with wings used during the Big Love Event in February, Shane and the other interventionists anchored it in the ground and surrounded it with tires that were painted with bright colors and repurposed as flowerpots.

“It’s the heart of Akron rising out of the tires,” Shane said, referencing Akron’s history as the hometown for companies such as B.F. Goodrich, Firestone and  Goodyear, which still maintains its global headquarters in Akron. The extravagant home of Goodyear founder Frank Seiberling operates as a museum, Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens.

Behind the creative interventionists’ table, the team displayed a map of the world with Akron at the center. Visitors used pushpins to indicate places they had come from or visited and linked the pins to Akron with string. Swirsky said that was their tribute to the international community of the neighborhood. “Immigrants are super brave – coming to this whole new country.”

A blackboard in front of the table encouraged people to “Commit a random act of beauty.” And to make that possible, the league handed out bags of sunflower seeds, some of the seeds the group acquired during the Light intervention in April.

“People are so happy to help beautify Akron,” Shane said. “We told them to plant them anywhere you see a need – an abandoned lot that won’t be mowed, anyplace it will help beautify the space. And everywhere we see sunflowers we’ll know we helped.”

Susan Ruiz Patton is a freelancer writer based in Northeast Ohio. She can be reached via email at [email protected].