Sat 12/18
Back in September, we told you that Darwin Kelsey, founding director of the Countryside Conservancy at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, was retiring, while remaining as an advisor until the end of the year to help smooth the transition to only the second director in the Conservancy’s history.
Sadly, Kelsey died on December 11 at the age of 76. A memorial service to celebrate his life take place Sat 12/18 held at CVNP’s Happy Days Lodge. Calling hours are noon-2:30pm, followed by a short service.
Kelsey was one of a handful of individuals who really jumpstarted the local food movement in northeast Ohio. He came to Ohio in 1989 to take the job of director of Lake Farmpark, moving to the Countryside Conservancy ten years later. He established CVNP’s program to lease restored farmsteads to become working farms, a program unique to CVNP. He also started the Countryside Farmers Market, the first such market in a national park, at a time when the farmers market scene in the area was in its infancy. Together, they helped move forward the idea, which has now spread across the region like wildfire, of sustainably grown and raised, seasonal, organic food.
Kelsey was on the cutting edge of all that, blazing the trail and leading others down it. The mission of the Countryside Conservancy was (and is) “connecting people, food and land by increasing public awareness of how food and farming impact personal, community and environmental health, and by inspiring personal commitment to building a resilient, sustainable food culture.”
Now those ideas have taken root and are being carried on by people he inspired, mentored and taught. He leaves big shoes to fill. Sadly, his successor won’t be able to pick up the phone and ask him for advice.
remembering-darwin-with-the-deepest-gratitude
Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Peninsula, OH 44264