This year Salmon Arm is going big with Earth Day celebrations planned for both April 21 and 22.
Earth Day inspired a collaborative effort between the Salmon Arm Arts Centre, Song Sparrow Hall and Downtown Salmon Arm. The organizers say they are excited about connections between the arts and sustainability that naturally came together. They expressed appreciation for the efforts of many participants working to make it a vibrant event.
The 2023 Earth Day gathering will be a free, public event at the Ross Street Plaza on Saturday, April 22 from 11 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.
The stage will feature: three-minute talks by Earth-focused organizations; Secwépemc storytelling with Kenthen Thomas; story time with Ardie Burnham; and Earth-inspired music with Clea Roddick.
In the plaza the public will find sustainability projects and booths, electric vehicles on display, the Project Grow Youth Garden Contest, an all-ages bughouse building station, face-painting and games, as well as tree sapling and plant giveaways.
Exhibitors include Shuswap Climate Action, Shuswap Food Action, Shuswap Maker Space, Shuswap Trail Alliance, the City of Salmon Arm, high school leadership students, Shuswap Pollinators, Columbia Shuswap Invasive Species Society and others.
Manager of Downtown Salmon Arm, Jennifer Broadwell notes exhibitors will also have an opportunity to speak about their projects.
“We are asking exhibitors to provide a three-minute talk on the work, or future work, from their organization that will help support sustainable and regenerative living in our community.”
Walk of the Woods, an art spectacle by Runaway Moon Theatre, will visit the plaza at 1 p.m. The much-anticipated, moving tree parade will be made up of participants of all ages who have been making tree costumes in a series of public art workshops. Anyone who wishes to take part in the parade can meet at the Salmon Arm Arts Centre at 12:15 p.m. on Earth Day.
An Earth Talk event will take place at Song Sparrow Hall on Friday, April 21 at 7 p.m., with the Valhalla Wilderness Society sharing a short film and presentation about the inland temperate rainforest. Home to the deep-snow mountain caribou, grizzly bears, rare fungi and lichens, B.C.’s inland rainforest is a globally unique ecosystem worth celebrating.
Biologist and campaigner Amber Peters will share the findings from many “ground-breaking scientific and exploratory expeditions into this incredible B.C. wilderness over 20 years of research, including photography of rare rainforest species and primeval cedar trees.” Primeval: Enter the Incomappleux, a film by VWS and Damien Gillis, will be shown. The film has toured the province to gain support for protection of the Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park proposal.
The Friday evening event admission is by donation. Special guests will include environmental educators Ceren Caner, Emily Styles and Geoff Styles, who will talk about the growth of outdoor learning in the region, the rationale for teaching outdoors, as well as stories from the South Canoe Outdoor Learning School. A soup and bun meal will be served by Shuswap Food Action Society.
To register for Earth Talk or for more information, go to: http://songsparrowhall.ca/events.
- Submission
Read more: North Okanagan-Shuswap students to plant 7,600 trees for Earth Day
Read more: Want to be a tree?: Runaway Moon’s Earth Day plans for Shuswap rooted in woods
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