By Hannah Remmert
The Oxford community will be celebrating Earth Day early this Saturday with the annual EarthFest celebration. This free event will take place at Uptown Park from 10am-1pm this Saturday, April 16th, and will feature a variety of games, interactive booths and workshops, live music, cool giveaways like water bottles, shirts, and bags, and a karaoke raffle for kids. Plus, the Oxford Farmer’s Market will be open, and who doesn’t love supporting their local farmers and artists?
While EarthFest has been happening for a few years now, there are a few new additions this year including a 5K put on by the Miami University Conservation Team and a campus clean-up organized by Green Oxford.
The race will begin at 8am at Millett Hall. The entry fee for this 5K is a modest $20 with all to Pacific Wild, a conservation organization based in British Columbia. To pre-register you can sign up here until Thursday, April 14, or stop by Millet Hall on the morning of the race.
The registration table will open at 7:15am in front of Millet, where participants can register and/or pick up their event numbers and t-shirts (while supplies last!). After the race, participants are encouraged to head Uptown and check out the rest of the EarthFest event.
The second new event is the campus cleanup, “This is Litter Too,” which is focused specifically on eliminating cigarette litter. The event will start at Uptown Park at 1pm as EarthFest is winding down. People will be split up into teams in order to tackle cleaning up all of campus. This is a great opportunity for students and the Oxford community to take direct action to help the Earth. People can register as groups or individuals. For more information, check out the event on Facebook.
EarthFest is put on by Miami’s Institute for the Environment and Sustainability. Participating groups this year include the Miami University Conservation Team, Environmental Appreciation Club, Butler Soil and Water Conservation District, Farm Club, Oxford Veg, Green Oxford, Oxford Farmer’s Market Uptown, Songbird Environmental, Miami Eco Reps, Three Valley Conservation Trust, MOON Co-op and more.
For more information regarding EarthFest, contact jordan10@miamioh.edu or leverimc@miamioh.edu.
Coming Up- EarthFest 2016 Festival and 5K
