Blue skies and warm weather on Sunday made for a successful 2017 Earth Day Festival held at Rotary Park, said Durango Nature Studies executive director Sally Shuffield.
“It’s a really great time for families to get out and enjoy an activity outside in our community,” Shuffield said. “And of course one of our goals is to raise kids who care about it.”
The Earth Day Festival, in its eighth year, was started when community members saw a lack of planned events in honor of the day, which is celebrated on April 22 in support of environmental protection.
Among the events, children were tasked by Durango-based Phoenix Recycling to take recycled trash and turn it into a miniature golf course, which Genevieve Roberts, days away from her third birthday, was enjoying Sunday afternoon.
Shuffield said the event steadily grows every year, both in participation and in events offered. The past two years the festival has held a kayak race, which this year’s winning kayaker rode from Rotary to Santa Rita Park in just over 13 minutes.
Shuffield said the festival consistently draws environmentally-friendly groups, such as The Garden Project, Trails 2000, Phoenix Recycling and Grace Church Durango.
This year, organizers with the People’s Climate March & Rally, to be held 10 a.m. on April 29, also rented a booth. That event will see a march from the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad to Buckley Park, where more events will be held.
