Rivertown Garden
It's official. Our East County demonstration garden has a new name. Rivertown Garden, formerly called Mangini Garden, was established in 2018 at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds in Antioch.
Rivertown Garden is open to the general public every Tuesday from 10 am to noon, February through October. Stop by, visit, wander, and get your general home gardening questions answered.
Mark Your Calendar!
Saturday, April 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Rivertown Garden will host the Great Tomato Plant Sale (GTPS) in this location. To get prepared and find more information, visit our GTPS 2026 Great Tomato Plant Sale pages
Plans for the near future
Rivertown Garden boasts an indoor classroom for presentations and a large park to have classes under the trees in good weather. Some years, the crew at Rivertown Garden hosts UC Master Gardener speakers for seasonal short demonstrations & classes covering topics such as fruit trees, vegetables, bugs, tools and irrigation, all offered free to the community. And, our Ask A Master Gardener team will be available on each class date.
Currently there are no talks scheduled for 2026.
Finding Rivertown Garden
Rivertown Garden is located within the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds at 1201 West 10th Street, Antioch, California. Enter the Fairgrounds from West 10th Street, between O and L Streets. As you head into the Fairgrounds, take the first right into the Fairgrounds Administration parking lot.
Rivertown Garden History
Starting in 2002, school nutrition tours were held at the former Mangini Agricultural Museum within the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds for garden-enhanced nutrition education. This program was co-sponsored by the Fairgrounds, the UC Nutrition in Schools Program, the Contra Costa Farm Bureau and the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County.
The program folded many years ago, and the garden was abandoned and went fallow. Since 2016, the UC Master Gardener Program has been holding successful Great Tomato Plant Sales at the Fairgrounds, and that success motivated us to work with the Fairgrounds to re-establish the site as a new demonstration garden. The garden opened in 2018 as Mangini Garden, and has been re-christened Rivertown Garden in 2020.
Rivertown Garden is currently a focal point in East County for home horticultural outreach and education activities. The garden is the East County version and little sister to the demonstration garden known as Our Garden in Walnut Creek. Rivertown has nine raised garden beds with drip irrigation and a new greenhouse that has doubled the propagation yields. A vigorous and self-sustaining composting program has been established to demonstrate what composting can do to change a garden’s health and productivity. A small sensory and native plant bed provides an example of a low-water and colorful landscape.
All fruits and vegetables organically grown in Rivertown Garden are donated to local charitable organizations to help those in need in East Contra Costa County and to educate and promote healthy nutrition.