The annual Earth Day Festival is Saturday at Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge. (Photo by Julio Culiat)
The eighth annual Earth Day festival in Oak Ridge is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 25, at Alvin K. Bissell Park.
See this story for more information.
Pictured above is a special recycling event at Earth Day Festival.
Keep Anderson County Beautiful will host the eighth annual Earth Day festival in Oak Ridge on Saturday, April 25, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at A.K. Bissell Park.
East Tennessee residents living in or around Oak Ridge are invited to participate in the festival, organizers said. It features free activities and events that promote healthy living and environmental education, and that encourage individuals to create and contribute to a sustainable community.
Sponsored in major part by KACB and Leidos, Earth Day will feature outdoor games for children, music, healthy food vendors, exhibitors showcasing educational booths, an on-site scavenger hunt, and neighborhood games such as hopscotch, bocce, croquet, flying discs, ladder ball and a special reduce, reuse, recycle game. There will be a special area for preschool children. [Read more…]
Pat Imperato, left, vice chair of Keep Anderson County Beautiful, presents a check for $150 to Sister Marie Blanchette and some seventh-grade students from St. Mary’s School for contributing the most number of shoes per student as part of the recent community shoe drive. (Submitted photo)
Keep Anderson County Beautiful has announced the total amount of materials collected, including electronics and shoes, during the recent 2014 Earth Day Festival in Oak Ridge.
“This is one of the best Earth Days that we have had in terms of materials collected and diverted from our landfill through recycling,” said Pam Turner, KACB president. “The community really embraced the meaning of Earth Day while enjoying a beautiful day in the outdoors playing old-fashioned neighborhood games.”
More than 36 volunteers helped to put on the event, which collected 7,531 pounds of electronics, 5,400 pounds of personal documents for shredding, 3,100 pairs of shoes, 540 pounds of books, 108 pairs of eye glasses, and 56 pounds of blankets and towels for the animal shelter. [Read more…]
Mark Watson
The City of Oak Ridge is on the verge of being selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a Green Power Community, the first in the Southeast, a press release said.
The EPA’s Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to buy renewable energy. To be designated as a Green Power Community, a local government must purchase or produce green power in amounts that meet EPA minimum purchase requirements as determined by community electricity usage.
Green power is defined as electricity generated from renewable resources, such as wind, solar, biogas, biomass, and low-impact hydropower. Oak Ridge Electric Department customers can buy Green-e Energy certified renewable energy through the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Green Power Switch program.
To qualify, local governments must also initiate a community-wide green power campaign to encourage renewable energy purchases. The City of Oak Ridge, playing off its nickname as the Secret City due to its historical origins, created a campaign called, “The Secret’s Out: Oak Ridge Loves Green Power,” to encourage residents and businesses to buy green power. [Read more…]
Submitted
With temperatures forecasted to be 80 degrees and no chance of rain, it looks like Saturday will be a great day to celebrate our lush green environment and play outdoors. Keep Anderson County Beautiful will be hosting the seventh annual Earth Day Festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at A.K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge.
A big emphasis in this year’s festival will be showing children how to play ”neighborhood games” that require simple instructions and no costly equipment. Believe it or not some kids don’t know how to play hopscotch or play double jump rope (see demo here) or even sing the child’s rhythmic, ” Strawberry Shortcake, huckleberry pie…”
Many other simple games will be demonstrated with time for kids to learn how to play. Student chess club players will help novices learn how to play with large and traditional size chess pieces. There will be a recycle relay and basketball free throw, bocce, croquet, flying discs, and ladder ball. Prizes will be offered. [Read more…]
Alex, a Weimaraner skilled at long distance jumping and speed retrieval, catches a football during a DockDogs competition in Oak Ridge during the 2012 Earth Day Festival.
The Sixth Annual Earth Day Festival in Oak Ridge this weekend will feature a jumping competition for dogs, a kids’ race and bicycle rodeo, and shoe collection and recycling drives.
It will also feature more than 60 exhibitors and live music. It’s scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Oak Ridge Civic Center.
The popular dog jumping competition debuted in Oak Ridge last year. It’s the Smoky Mountain Dock Dogs “Spare the Big Air Challenge,” and it features a 26,000-gallon swimming pool and four events: Big Air, Extreme Vertical, Speed Retrieve, and Iron Dog. It starts at 4 p.m. Friday at A.K. Bissell Park and ends at 5 p.m. Sunday. [Read more…]
