Nonprofit organization Keep Phoenix Beautiful hosted its sixth annual Earth Day Phoenix festival on Saturday, bringing several thousand attendees to the event, according to the organization’s special events director.
The event offered mini-eco classes, exhibitors, and a beer garden by Sun Up Brewing Company & Brewhouse.
“Keep Phoenix Beautiful hopes to inspire the community to make Earth Day every day,” said Tiffany Hilburn, the special events director at Keep Phoenix Beautiful. “With our various exhibitors and classes available, attendees will walk away with new knowledge and appreciation for our planet.”
Earth Day Phoenix started in April 2009, and Tom Waldeck, the president and CEO of Keep Phoenix Beautiful, said the event usually draws a large crowd of people that have an interest in composting, solar and rainwater harvesting, and gardening.
Hilburn said the festival began with a ceremonial tree planting by Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton and representatives from NFL Green, an initiative focused on environmental advancements within the NFL. Later, there was a performance by Rhythm is Life Steel Band. More than 50 exhibitors offered displays and advice to attendees, and there were short educational composting seminars on composting and rainwater harvesting.
With more than 40 volunteers there to help, Hilburn called the event a success.
“It was a nice steady flow all day and many of our exhibitors mentioned they had a really great time,” Hilburn said.
Waldeck said that Coca-Cola and Watershed Management gave away 100 rain barrel kits, and City of Phoenix Public Works gave away compost from their Green Organics Program.
Festival attendees also toured a solar exhibit home built by ASU students.
“It’s really a great event to enjoy the beautiful weather, learn about different sustainability initiatives and celebrate Earth Day,” Hilburn said.
Attendee Ashlyn Hadaway, 23, has been going to Earth Day Phoenix for the past five years. She said she was interested in learning about capturing rainwater and checking out this year’s location.
“I also want to start my own garden, so I got a few tips from the exhibitors here,” she said.
Waldeck said the event is important to Phoenix because residents are so interested in being sustainable. He has noticed that they are also very interested in community gardening.
“I was talking to one of our gardeners this morning, and he has the most incredible space,” Waldeck said. “And he told me he has never gardened in his life. From doing Google searches and talking with fellow gardeners he has accomplished beautiful things.”
The festival was held on a 15-acre site at 4221 N Central Avenue in Phoenix that has large urban agriculture and community garden plots.
“We call it our PHX Renews project,” Hilburn said. “It is the largest plot of vacant land transformation in the country.”
PHX Renews has existed for three years, and Waldeck said one of its mission is to find temporary uses for vacant lots. The Central and Indian School location where the festival took place is the first attempt at this kind of temporary activation, Waldeck said.
“It is an incubator of sorts, trying different things with our 16 nonprofit partners,” he said. “From our 150 garden beds as small as 4 x 8 to urban farming as large as 2.5 acres, the most incredible aspect has been the way our gardeners and partners have all worked together to overcome obstacles and have created a real sense of community. Our main reason for moving Earth Day Phoenix to our PHX Renews site is to highlight the great work being done on the site by many different people.”
The organization also encouraged people to use alternate forms of transportation last weekend such as the light rail, ride share, or a Grid Bike.
Hilburn said ride share company Uber donated $5 to Earth Day Phoenix for every passenger that used the code EarthDayPHX. There were also a Grid Bike Share stop and regular bike racks outside the festival to make it convenient for cyclists.
“It was truly a great Earth Day celebration,” she said.
Contact the reporter at dcnoehring@gmail.com.
