Guy Benjamin School students learn about electricity during last year’s Earth Day Fair.
V.I. National Park and Friends of V.I. National Park are excited to announce this year’s Earth Day events.
The week will begin with green giveaways at The Marketplace on Monday, April 25. Visit Friends’ table from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and get ideas to green the home, office, and island.
The fun continues with the 2011 Earth Day Environmental Fair which is scheduled for Friday, April 29. This year the fair will once again be hosted at the VINP ball field in Cruz Bay from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
But the fun will start even before students from all of the island’s schools converge on the field for the fair. Friends and V.I. Waste Management Authority are co-hosting a Litter Stomp Parade from the Julius E. Sprauve School to the ball field starting at 8:45 a.m.
And the green fun doesn’t end there. Friends will also be hosting the second annual Reef Fest on Saturday, April 30. This event will coincide with the Earth Day celebration as St. John youth and their families spend an educational fun day at Hawksnest Beach from 12 noon to 5 p.m. Exhibits, activities, and events will be ongoing throughout the day, both in and out of the water.
Friends’ goal is to educate, inform, and inspire V.I. youth and the community on the importance of preserving and protecting the environment.
All events are free and open to the public, and all St. John schools and families are invited. Last year more than 700 St. John students attended the Earth Day Fair and over 150 participants attended Reef Fest.
These events are great ways to teach V.I. youth about the environment and important environmental issues. It is also an excellent opportunity to expose St. John students, who generally don’t have the ability to attend fairs on St. Thomas, to important environmental programs on other islands.
Island-wide beach clean-ups will be hosted throughout Earth Week as well. Participants of the Friends’ Adopt-A-Beach/Trail program are asked to remove debris from their adopted beach/trail as part of an island-wide cleanup.
The Adopt-A-Beach/Trail program encourages volunteer groups to adopt a site and become responsible for keeping it clean. Anyone interested in adopting a beach/trail should contact Friends.
The group also needs volunteers to ensure the success of all Earth Week events. Anyone interested in volunteering for Earth Week should contact Audrey Penn at Friends at 779-4940.
