What are Neighbour Nights?
Tucked under the Hamilton Escarpment in the Davis Creek neighbourhood at Quigley and Greenhill, you’ll find the historic Glen Manor farmhouse, which serves as Green Venture’s EcoHouse. The unique 2 acre green space surrounding the house features a community garden, forested pathways, lawns and gardens that are open to the public. Green Venture hosts environmental education and environmentally-themed programming outdoors on site all year, in addition to providing space and support for other organizational programming like the BGC Hamilton-Halton Outdoor EarlyON program and the Kahnekanoron (Water is Precious) Indigenous women & 2SLGBTQIAAP+ land learning program.
In 2022, Green Venture was pleased to host three Neighbour Nights at EcoHouse, welcoming over 400 people to visit and re-engage with this greenspace and their neighbours!
Neighbour Nights and the addition of new outdoor furniture throughout the grounds, wayfinding arrows, and a community message board were supported through a $2000 City of Hamilton Placemaking Grant, with financial support from the Patrick J. McNally Charitable Foundation.
Find direction at EcoHouse with new wayfinding signs
Neighbour Nights at EcoHouse
On May 14th, 2022 the Green Venture team sprung into action to bring environmental education and awareness to our neighbourhood. Green Venture hosted our first Neighbour Night, the Spring Garden Festival and Annual Seedling Sale and celebrated the community garden opening day, sharing gardening knowledge, native plants and seeds.
Shared Harvest near the greenhouse at EcoHouse selling vegetable seedlings
Our second Neighbour Night featured a Fall Farmers’ Market where visitors strolled along the grounds discovering newly added seating, connected with local artisans, herbalists, community organizations, and participating in outdoor cooking demonstrations. At sunset the grounds lit up and Green Venture hosted our first free Family Movie Night at EcoHouse.
Streaming Luca in front of the Historic Front Entrance at EcoHouse
The fall season wrapped up our Neighbour Night events. As October turned into November our grounds filled with eco-friendly decor made from natural and repurposed materials for Green Venture’s Enchanted Forest Night. Neighbours joined us in scaring hunger with Hamilton Community Fridges by bringing non-perishable food items as admission to this event. Games and activities led by our education team, workshops on native plant seed sowing, tree walks led by Charlie Briggs, whittling demos by Jason Allen, and story time led by Hamilton Public Library, proved to be an eerie good time.
Community Fridges volunteers tabling at Enchanted Forest
We’d like to thank all of the volunteers, community organizations, small businesses, and neighbours who helped make Neighbour Nights a success.
One of the best outcomes of Neighbour Nights and the improved signage and seating has been to encourage the community around EcoHouse to use the space for walks and nature appreciation. We are seeing more people visiting the site and we hope our neighbours continue to enjoy our unique little corner of Hamilton as a place to socialize, a family-friendly destination to visit, and a point of pride in the community.
Community Partners
Bird Friendly Hamilton Burlington
Small Businesses
Earth Woman Projects
Workshop Hosts
Charlie Briggs: Certified Arborist
Music
Volunteers
Our events would not be possible without the dedication of our volunteers
Green Venture high-school volunteers at the Enchanted Forest
Visiting EcoHouse
While our Neighbour Night events have concluded for the season, our grounds are still open. Learn more about visiting EcoHouse HERE.
For upcoming volunteer opportunities visit us HERE
For upcoming events visit us HERE
