April 14. Cornelius Parks and Recreation and Lake Norman Wildlife Conservationists are putting on Earth Jam 2023 this Saturday.
This free event – 4-7 p.m. is at Robbins Park, 17738 W. Catawba Ave.. – is a great way to come together as a community to celebrate Earth Day, eat delicious food, listen to live music, enjoy drinks from local breweries, and most importantly, learn how we can create change in our community to be a little kinder to our planet!
Live country music will be performed by Justin Mintun (4-4:50 p.m.) and James Tucker (5-7 p.m.)
Concessions available for purchase include D9 Brewing, Eleven Lakes Brewing, Rico’s Acai, and Zizi’s Vegan Food Truck.
Over 25 local organizations will be on hand to provide interactive demonstrations on sustainability, conservation, and living an eco-friendly life. Just a sampling of these include:
- Carolina Custom Pallet Art will demonstrate how they bring palettes from the landfill to the living room, repurposing pallets into custom artwork.
- Catawba Land Conservancy/ Carolina Thread Trail will have a trivia wheel with nature and trail-related questions. They will also be sharing information on the Carolina Thread Trail’s geographic footprint and maps to show visitors where they can find trails near them.
- Catawba Riverkeeper will be featuring an interactive environmental waterscape to demonstrate stormwater runoff.
- Charlotte Air Awareness is going to have activities for adults and children that demonstrate where air pollution comes from, as well as tips for how to take care of our air.
- Charlotte Water will have toilet bowl cornhole and provide education on disposable wipes, grease, and water quality.
- Cold Blooded and Bizarre will be bringing a few animals for people to enjoy. There will also be a giant snake that people can hold and take a picture with for a $5 donation to their non-profit.
- Cornelius Public Library is coming with a craft for families and kids that uses recycled material.
- Davidson College Sustainability is bringing games about sustainability.
- Master Gardeners of Mecklenburg County will have an interactive seed-starting activity for kids where they can start a seed in a recycled container and learn how to take care of the seed while it grows. They will also have information on common gardening issues and will be available to answer questions on how to improve your home garden.
- Mecklenburg County Beekeepers Association will be educating on the basics of beekeeping and public safety using their live observation hive.
- Mecklenburg County Solid Waste will feature an interactive booth on “how to recycle right” where visitors will be challenged to decide what is and is not acceptable to be recycled.
- Renewal by Andersen will be available to discuss their energy efficient windows and doors. They will also be handing out seeds to plant in your home garden.
- Sustain Charlotte will be discussing smart growth and will have cornhole for chances to win fun prizes.
- The Carolina Raptor Center will be showcasing owl and vulture feathers and their role in how loud birds wings are. They will also have information on birds and owl calls.
- The Patio Farmer is challenging visitors to match vegetables to the best pot. They will also be hosting seed bingo and will have plants for sale.
Attendees are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs and blankets and enjoy the festivities, but please remember no pets, no smoking, no e-cigs or vaping, no open flames, and no glass containers are allowed.
A portion of the proceeds will benefit Lake Norman Wildlife Conservationists.
