Ijams Nature Center participates in a previous Earth Day festival in Oak Ridge.
Oak Ridge will celebrate Earth Day 2012 on Saturday, April 28 at the Civic Center. The event starts at 11 a.m. and will continue until 4 p.m. There will be numerous exhibits, including GreenVillageGreen, which is an online newsletter on how to live “green.” The food vendors includes ice cream, pizza, and more.
The events will include the Green Mile, Dock Dogs, and a bike rodeo. There will also be a Soles4Souls shoe drop-off site.
The Green Mile, which will be held at the ORHS track, is a free community running event for kids in kindergarten thru 12th grades. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. with the first race to start at 9:00 a.m.
Oak Ridge is hosting the Smoky Mountain Dock Dogs for the first time. This is also the first time it has come to this part of East Tennessee. Dock Dogs is a competition in which dogs from all over the country will come to compete in the three sporting disciplines: Big Air, Extreme Vertical, and Speed Retrieve. This three-day event starts Friday, April 27, and ends on Sunday, April 29. The event is open to all dog owners and their pets. For more information about the Smoky Mountain Dock Dogs or to register to compete, visit www.smokymountaindockdogs.com.
The Earth Day event will also include a bike rodeo from 11 a.m.– 2 p.m. that has been organized by Anderson County Health Department and the Knoxville Regional Bicycle Program. Some fun events at the rodeo include free helmets to the first 75 kids under 14, a helmet fitting, a safety talk by Oak Ridge Police Department, and more.
Soles4Soles is a community shoe drive to give gently-used shoes to those in need. Throughout April, they will be accepting all sizes and styles of shoes to be refurbished by Soles4Souls. If you would like to donate, please rubber-band each pair together and drop them off at one of the public drop-off sites or bring them to the festival or the Green Mile on April 28. The drop-off sites are listed on the Soles4Souls page on the Oak Ridge Earth Day website at http://www.orearthday.org.
For a complete list of the day’s activities, go to the Earth Day website.
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