Music, Fun, Creativity Flourish At Earth Day Celebration

By Kendra Bobowick

Cartwheeling across the Newtown Middle School lawn was one Earth Day Festival-goer flipping in nimble turns from her hands to her feet and back again.

Children crowded the lawn Saturday, April 24, as bands played, parents meandered from one green-minded booth to another, together representing the swell of community participation in this year’s third annual Earth Day Festival.

Was it just more school groups and younger minds at work touting the earth-friendly messages, as Sustainable Energy Commission Chairman Dan Holmes had hoped? No. Looking up from under the brim of his hat where he relaxed in a lawn chair, former commission member and Mr Holmes’s friend Terrence Ford said, “Everybody stepped up this year.” A participant in the past two festivals, he said the day had “a lot more momentum” this year from community groups and businesses, schools, private groups, and supportive residents all drawing attention in their respective spaces across the lawn.

Music came from a host of live performers, included the Blue Yodels, who are promoting this weekend’s Memory Walk Tour to raise funds to fight Alzheimer’s disease. Bob Brophy and Felicia Michael greeted residents who wandered nearer to the stage to hear the day’s lineup of bluegrass, jazz, and reggae, among other performances. See the www.blueyodelmusic.com and look for the calendar to learn details about the Alzheimer’s walk in New Milford on May 1.

The Men in Green, a handful of middle school boys who handed out saplings this year, also promoted their message: “It’s our goal to help reduce CO2 emissions by reversing deforestation. We want to help reduce deforestation by planting trees all over the country.” Carrying trees they received at the Men in Green booth were Marcella Daily, Ashley Santore, and Sarah Houle, who promised to plant the native black spruces. Moments later, three of the six Men in Green — Austin Raftery, Mike Davis, and Garrisson Buzzanca — all gathered trees to hand out in the crowd.

Handing out trees and T-shirts at the Men in Green booth was Meaghan Davis, who responded to Robbie Accomando’s tentative young voice asking, “Can I have a tree please?”

A booth away was Brendan Shugrue, who slathered suet and seeds into a pinecone to make a birdfeeder. Several feet away and seated behind handcrafted animals and objects was Lizzy Hodge, showing off the Middle Gate School students’ art created from recycled items. The work represents respect, responsibility, and diversity — an RRD project.

Sharon Longo with the Hawley School Garden Club showed visitors how to make a newspaper seed pot. By rolling newspaper and filling the cone with potting soil, students, including Alexa and Sean Gordon, could then press seeds into the mix and wait for the beans to grow.

The Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team (HEAT) also set up a booth and collected signatures opposing plans for future work at the Housatonic Railroads’ transfer station in Hawleyville. Seated behind a petition he urged people to sign was Jack Laslo, who felt that HEAT’s environmental interests to protect the water and noise quality in Hawleyville were a good fit with Earth Day activities. Looking at the crowd, he said, “These people must be environmental, and the right people to get the message to.”

Pushing a healthier diet were Juice Plus representatives at a booth covered in fresh pineapple and other fruits or vegetables. Hoping the supplements would “bridge a gap between what people do eat and what they should eat,”  MaryAnn Fisher worked with Nolan Fisher and Doris Hanley Saturday.

Drawing a crowd at their homemade hut crafted from recycled glossy catalogs that often pile up as junk mail were Anna and Adam Harrison. Resident Ben Toby made the hut and hopes to gain support for a “do not mail list,” which would work just like the “do not call list,” he said. Visit them at KidsAgainstWaste.com and help send a petition to Congress. Across the sidewalk was Linda Wheeler, who sold Beta fish swimming beneath the roots of bamboo shoots. Both the fish and plant affect their environments in ways beneficial to one another.

Raising money for the Odyssey of the Mind team were Owen Gray, Megan McDonald, Shannon McDonald, and Shaina Stamp. The group sat making crafts from biodegradable materials. They are the first team from this state in the Odyssey’s 30-year history to represent Connecticut in the Creativity category. They are in charge of creating the booth for Connecticut. Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. From another Odyssey team raising funds were Tess Brantl, eating a volcano cupcake, Dennis Timmons, Matt Brantl, Annika Alexander, and Monique Dubois. Nearby were friends Talia Hankin and Kaysie Fisher who were painting decorations on their faces, while behind them Zooky the Clown twisted balloons into animals. Quickly inflating, then twisting into shape a rainbow menagerie, Zooky entertained an audience of children including Savannah Duffy.

Drawing rainbows on friends’ faces, chasing a pet, or building castles from sticks were Thomas and Paige Armstrong, and hundreds of other children playing on the Newtown Middle School lawn on Saturday.

Near the entrance at spinning paint-wheel designs were Sarah Widmann, Olivia Buckler, and Aiden and PJ Ford.