On Saturday, April 19 the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center (DPNC) will host its annual Earth Day Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Located at 109 Pequotsepos Road in Mystic, DPNC has hosted the festival for more than a decade and anticipates this year’s event will be one of the largest yet.
“It’s going to be really big,” said DPNC Director of Communications, Marketing, and Development Mike Madura. “We actually had one of our meetings yesterday, and it’s amazing how big this is going to be. It’s going to be fun.”
Madura and his associates anticipate a big turnout for what essentially will be a huge outreach event, with food, entertainment, and plenty of children’s activities.
Local “green” business owners such as Guardian Fuel owner Randy Lohr, who provides environmentally friendly soy-based and switch grass-based bio-fuel, will be on-hand to speak about what people can do to heat their homes and run their vehicles in a more earth friendly way. Other local organizations, like the Stonington Land Trust, Avalonia Land Trust, and the North Stonington Outdoor Citizens Group will be present to speak and share their eco-knowledge.
“We have people that are coming in that are going to tell local folks where they can go to do things green,” Madura explained. “Some of them are going to be things like green landscaping, or if they want to add a solar or wind generator to their house to try to get them to be a little more efficient, or if they want to switch to bio-diesel or clean energy for their cars and things like that. It’s basically going to be a local resource for local retailers of green and sustainable living information.”
And while the focus of the event will be to encourage the public to take a more earth-friendly approach to their daily living, the festival won’t be without fun. Perhaps the perfect fit for a celebration of earth, the Parallel String Band, one of Rhode Island’s premier acoustic bands will share their brand of folk/blue-grass music. Food and refreshments will also be available throughout the day. Guided geology and nature walks will be held periodically, and a rock wall will be available for anyone who wants to take on an outdoor sporting challenge. The event will also feature an array of kids’ activities.
“We’re going to have a ton of crafts for the kids,” Madura said. “Mask-making, instrument-making, face-painting—we’ll have all different kinds of recycled materials to make costumes and then sometime during the middle of the day we’re going to have a kids’ parade throughout the whole nature center.”
While convincing adults to go green is a major goal of the festival, equally important is reaching out to children. The event is being sponsored by the Big Y, Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, StoneRidge Retirement, Aquarion Water Company, and Washington Trust.
The suggested donation for visitors is $6 for adults and $4 for children.
For more information, contact the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center at 860-536-1216.