With a very "hands-on" approach this year, Lafayette's 12th annual Earth Day Festival will showcase local youth groups as well as exhibitors.
The fun will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, April 23 on Golden Gate Way behind the Lafayette Library and Learning Center and at the plaza of the library.
Hosted by nonprofit organization Sustainable Lafayette, together with the LL&LC, the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and the City of Lafayette, this year's festival has plenty of educational fun for everyone.
Lamorinda 4-H will have a petting zoo featuring their livestock projects. Global Student Embassy will demonstrate how to create a garden in a small space. The Lafayette Community Garden will bring vegetables and display chickens. Imperfect Produce representatives will talk about food waste and encourage purchasing of "cosmetically challenged" produce. White Pony Express will educate festival-goers on their food rescue program and Sustainable Lafayette will host a "Repair Café" where volunteers will repair household items onsite to prevent them ending up in a landfill.
With youth specifically in mind, there will be an environmentally themed scavenger hunt and a "Safe Moves Bike Rodeo" where participants can learn about bike safety and Boy Scouts can work towards a biking merit badge.
For Lafayette's creative youth, there will be an adventure playground where children can use their imaginations to make their own creations using recycled materials. Global Student Embassy will lead a community participation art project using plastic straws collected locally to educate community members about waste created by single-use plastic straws.
Additionally attendees have the opportunity to help Orinda artist Lara Dutto finish an art piece that will feature a functioning rain barrel, created with discarded materials collected by students at Stanley Middle School. The six-foot by six-foot structure will ultimately be placed in the Lafayette community garden.
Plenty of healthy food choices will be available along with live music and screening of environmentally themed films produced by local youth.
The annual Lafayette Awards of Environmental Excellence will be announced at the festival.
Attendees are encouraged to find alternative modes of transportation to the festival since there is limited parking. Those driving to the event are encouraged to park at Stanley Middle School. For those who bike to the festival, there will be a free bicycle valet hosted by a local Cub Scout troop.
Take action on Earth Day in Orinda
From 9:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday April 22, the City of Orinda will be beautified and cleaned during the ninth annual Orinda Action Day of Community Service by residents and friends of all ages.
Check-in time is 9:30 a.m. at the Orinda Library Plaza on 26 Orinda Way in Orinda. The first 300 volunteers will receive a free tee-shirt, snacks and coffee upon registration. The town's D.J. and "Voice of Orinda" Steve Harwood will be presenting prizes for unusual "finds" and pizza is served.
For more information regarding the event and those interested in being a project manager, please visit the OCF website, orindafoundation.org, or inquire at orindafoundation@gmail.com.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA