This Thursday, Aug. 30, the UNI Student Garden, along with the Student Green Fund, will be putting on the Sixth Annual UNI Harvest Festival. The event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Panther Plot behind the Center for Energy and Environmental Education (CEEE). The event is free and open to the public.

“The is an annual event we do here in celebration of the years’ worth of hard work that has gone on in the garden,” says Eric O’Brien, director of sustainability, finance and operations.

This year, students will be able to sample Mexican street corn straight off the grill. Back by popular demand, the festival will also be serving desserts such as cookies and brownies. All dishes being served at the event will incorporate food directly from the garden.

O’Brien said he was excited just to see students chilling and not worrying about classes.

“We hope to have a stress-free environment where people can come and enjoy themselves,” O’Brien said.

The garden is trying to make sure that the festival will be a nearly zero-waste event. Every dish that is going to be used will be compostable. If students bring in outside garbage, they are encouraged not to throw it away at the festival.

O’Brien also noted that, especially recently, most of the food used in the dining centers on campus has been coming directly out of the garden. The garden has being providing up to 500 tomatoes per week.

Food from the garden is also delivered to UNI Dining and Catering, who will be helping with the Harvest Festival.

O’Brien said this is a time where dining and catering get to show off some things they don’t normally get to do.

The Harvest Festival will also be highlighting the Student Green Fund. According to O’Brien, the UNI Student Garden will never be revenue-generating, and the Green Fund along with many other restaurants and business are helping to make that happen.

“I really want to stress that this really couldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the Student Green Fund making it a success,” O’Brien said.