BLOOMINGTON - Some unknown suspects have been vandalizing the West Side Community Garden.

But Sue Floyd, lifelong resident of the Gridley Allin Prickett neighborhood, said the evidence suggests groundhogs and an opossum are to blame.

"People kept saying we'd be vandalized by people," she said. "We haven't been vandalized by people, just animals. We just see the stuff chewed off."

Floyd was one of many who came to the 24-plot garden at Mulberry and Roosevelt streets Saturday for the Harvest Festival, also called Make a Difference Day.

"I think we're off to a good start," Floyd said of the West Bloomington Neighborhood Plan. The initiative behind the garden is being implemented by residents of the Gridley Allin Park and Old Towne neighborhoods, the city of Bloomington and Teska and Associates, an Evanston planning firm.

"There are a lot of people here who are regular, hard-working people," Floyd continued. "To have something like this to get people to come out and see that they're not going to get mugged, it's a wonderful thing."

Attendees of the festival sat on haystacks surrounding a campfire in the middle of the garden. Brian Falasz, resident of the far west side, helped 8-year-old Dominique Vega, who lives near the garden, roast a marshmallow on a stick.

"Maybe we can foster the next generation that sees what community and neighborhoods are all about, Falasz said. "I think it's a great start."

"We need the support of the mayor and city council," he said, referring to Mayor Steve Stockton, who attended the event.

Dominique said she sees drug abuse as a major problem in her neighborhood.

"I see a lot of smoking," she said. "Weed is bad. I see a lot of that going on."

Dale McCannon, also of the Gridley Allin Park neighborhood, said he, like Floyd, wishes residents of other neighborhoods would learn more about the west side.

"I wish other people would come down and see that it's not the stigma that's attached to it, that there are good people here," he said.

Danny Burke, an Illinois Wesleyan University senior majoring in Spanish and environmental science, said he is making it his senior project to inject a local food plan into the redevelopment plan.

"I don't see anything in it that addresses food at all," he said.

He said he would like to see a grocery store brought to the west side.

Festive trappings

Fifteen to 20 Bloomington High School students put in work to give the event a seasonal feel.

Chalk drawings, many of them with Halloween-related depictions, decorated the sidewalks surrounding the garden along Roosevelt and Mulberry.

"It was fun," said Brittn Wisdom, 15, of his drawing. "It turned out well."