On Earth Day, a Pasadena repair organization will do what it always does: fix things.
Repair Café Pasadena, the volunteer-run collective that has been helping Pasadena residents mend broken appliances, electronics, clothing, and bikes since at least 2012, will set up shop Wednesday at Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge — and repairs are free, even for visitors who don’t pay garden admission. The drop-in session runs from 1 to 4 p.m. in Gathering Room A as part of the garden’s Earth Day celebration, which runs from 1 to 6:15 p.m.
The Repair Café component is free and open to the general public, according to Descanso Gardens’ event listing — no garden admission required.
Repair Café Pasadena, which is jointly sponsored by Transition Pasadena and the Arroyo S.E.C.O. Network of Time Banks, is affiliated with more than 2,500 Repair Cafés operating worldwide, according to the Repair Café International Foundation. The model is simple: volunteers skilled in electronics, textiles, bicycles, jewelry, and woodworking fix things people would otherwise throw away.
“We just want to start a culture where people fix their own item and treasure it,” said Ginko Lee, the organization’s team lead, in a 2023 NBC Los Angeles interview. Tom Brady, a retired Pasadena recycling coordinator who volunteers at the knife-sharpening station, put it more bluntly in 2023: “It’s a philosophy in a lot of respects, isn’t it, reducing, reusing, recycling? You can’t go through life trashing everything.”
The Earth Day event at Descanso extends through five additional programs. The Seed Nest Creation Station in the Rose Garden Pavilion, running 1 to 4 p.m., invites visitors to assemble California native wildflower “Seed Nests” for planting in pots, flowerbeds, or wild lawn patches. The session is drop-in and free with admission while supplies last.
Two workshops require advance RSVP and have limited space. The Knitwear Mending Workshop, led by Nico Sorensen at Magnolia Court from 1 to 4 p.m., teaches surface darning and decorative mending techniques; participants should bring a sweater or knit item with a hole. RSVP links are available on the event page at descansogardens.org/event/earth-day-2026/.
The DIY Soil Bioremediation Workshop with Dr. Daisy Rosas Vargas, a bioremediation chemist, takes place on the Main Lawn from 4 to 5 p.m. Participants will create mycelium straw wattles — structures filled with spent oyster mushroom substrate and wrapped in remnant burlap or canvas — which, according to Descanso Gardens, help restore soil health while capturing runoff. Registration is available through the event page.
Sustainability at Descanso Tours depart from Center Circle at 1 p.m. and again at 2:30 p.m., covering the garden’s environmental practices. The day closes with an Indigenous History of Music performance and presentation by Christopher Garcia, a Los Angeles musician who performs original compositions using ancient Mesoamerican instruments, in the Amphitheater from 5 to 6:15 p.m.
General admission to Descanso Gardens is $18 for adults, $14 for seniors 65 and older, $14 for students with current ID, and $8 for children ages 3 to 12. Members and children 2 and under enter free. Parking is free. The garden is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. through September 30. Descanso Gardens is located at 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge. Phone: 818.949.4200.
At previous Repair Café events, the wait has been worth it. “I’m hooked. I can’t wait to come back,” attendee Ashaki Denise Jones said after watching volunteers rewire a broken floor lamp during a 2023 session.
