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04/12/2017 10:00 AMFor the second year in a row, in honor of Earth Day (and indirectly, Guilford’s town color, green) the Parks & Recreation Department, in conjunction with the Guilford Agricultural Society, is hosting Earthfest on Saturday, April 22 to celebrate the environment and sustainability.
The program started last year on the Town Green, but has a new home this year at the Guilford Fairgrounds. Parks & Recreation Director Rick Maynard said with the new location comes new activities.
“We are doing a lot of expansion of the Earth Day activities that we started last year,” he said. “There is going to be a farmers’ market and some animals, etc.”
The fairground activities are open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and include numerous activities geared toward educating the public about the environment, recycling, planting, repurposing, and keeping waterways clean.
Returning presenters include Curious Creatures with exotic animals and the Agricultural Experiment Station with specimens to look at under microscopes, plants and insects to examine, and a button-making press.
The new farmers market will include vendors selling sustainable goods, natural skin-care products, wood sculptures, and humanely raised beef and eggs, as well as a petting zoo and a variety of food. Author Cheryl Kling is selling and signing her book throughout the day and the Connecticut Food Bank, the Guilford Land Trust, and Eversource have stations around the fairgrounds with information.
There are activities and games for children planned, but one activity for residents of all ages extends far beyond the fairgrounds. In conjunction with the Earthfest events on the fairgrounds, a town-wide Clean Up Guilford challenge will go on throughout the day. Maynard said the clean up effort has been going on for many years, but has more recently been incorporated into the Earth Day celebrations. He said the goal is to get as many people as possible out around town to pick up trash.
“People who want to clean up that day we will have trucks available for them to empty their trash bags and throw them into the truck,” he said. “We need volunteer groups of people who would be willing to go out and say, ‘Yeah, we will take Long Hill Road, Seaside Avenue,’ or whatever. People pick a spot and it is a community effort to get our town cleaned up.”
Guilford’s Earthfest event is Saturday, April 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Guilford Fairgrounds. For more information about the event, call 203-453-8068 or visit www.guilfordparkrec.com. To register a group for a clean up area, contact Program Coordinator Jennifer Gott at gottj@ci.guilford.ct.us. If a group or organization is interested in participating in the event, contact Administrative Assistant Bonnie Moore at mooreb@ci.guilford.ct.us.