No rain on our parade: Festival in review.

Despite a forecast of severe thunder storms that did not arrive until long after the event, about 30,000 people joined in celebrating our common ground at the 25th annual St. Louis Earth Day Festival on Sunday, April 27th in Forest Park at the Muny grounds. All ages enjoyed a variety of hands-on activities for all ages, free yoga, demonstrations from the World Bird Sanctuary, exploring over 200 local businesses and organizations, sustainable design projects, and so much more.

The Honorable Mayor Francis G. Slay kicked off the event at the Opening Ceremony on the USAgain Main Stage by presenting a Proclamation and announcing the City’s focus on promoting native plants that attract monarch butterflies. Afterward, he helped Executive Director Cassandra Hage present this year’s Earth Day Action Grant awards.

Festival features included…

Three stages of entertainment featuring local bands, regional talent, Circus Flora performers, live birds of prey from the World Bird Sanctuary and community dance troupes;
Diverse cuisine from local vendors, showcasing vegetarian, locally-sourced and organic options;
Earth Day Challenge recognizing and rewarding visitors who bring their own water bottle or shopping bag and use low-impact transportation to arrive;
Free bike valet by Trailnet;
An eco-art activity using repurposed materials from the Teachers’ Recycle Center;
Peace Garden area for reflective communion through activities like meditation and ceremonial drum circle;
Free yoga, henna, face painting and crafts from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.;
All Species Parade for pedestrians to unite in celebrating the interdependence of all species, led by Joia World Percussion Ensemble; and,
Recycling Extravaganza collection event for hard-to-recycle items on the St. Louis Community College-Forest Park campus.

By the numbers…

28 Food & Beverage Vendors
19 Environmental Education Activity Booths
225 Vendor/Exhibitor Booths

Around 250 volunteers donated 870 hours toward making the weekend’s events a success – this included support of the Recycling Extravaganza and Earth Day Eve, where 350 people enjoyed the tunes of Miss Jubilee while relaxing at dusk in the Earth Day Cafe area of the Festival grounds. On Saturday evening at Earth Day Eve, $2,000 was raised to support year-round organizational programming.

Event Sustainability

By applying our Recycling On the Go program strategies onsite at the Festival, we kept the majority of waste produced out of area landfills – 91% of all waste by weight was recycled and composted! Many thanks to our vendors for banning styrofoam and #6 plastic.

Almost 1000 people claimed prizes for completing the Earth Day Challenge – using low-impact transportation and bringing their own water bottle or shopping bag. You can read more about the event’s sustainability efforts, like fueling our generators with biodiesel or purchasing organic cotton t-shirts here on our website.

The Recycling Extravaganza collection event for hard-to-recycle items accepted more donations than in 2013, with approximately 643 vehicles dropping off items at St. Louis Community College-Forest Park. More than 300lbs of medications along was collected by the DEA and over 62,000lbs of electronics by MRC! You can read more details of the event’s success here on our blog.

Thank you.

We are incredibly grateful for the many contributions of so many individuals, businesses and organizations that made this year’s Earth Day celebration another meaningful experience for the community. Thank you.

Threat of storms fails to dampen St. Louis Earth Day Festival turnout – St. Louis Post-Dispatch/stltoday.com

St. Louis Celebrates Earth Day 2014 in Forest Park [photo slideshow] – Riverfront Times

USAgain collects 2,000 pounds of clothing at St. Louis Earth Day Festival – USAgain blog

Festival closes early on Sunday. – SLED blog

It’s Earth Day today: Get your green on – USA Today

The Best Food at St. Louis Earth Day – Riverfront Times

Forest Park home to second-largest Earth Day celebration – KDSK