Chincoteague's "Mother Earth Festival"

The 4th Annual

MOTHER EARTH DAY Festival

Saturday May 12, 2012

10:00 a.m. ~ 4:00 p.m.

Robert Reed Park

on the waterfront downtown

CHINCOTEAGUE --Chincoteague's 4th annual Mother Earth Day Festival features family fun plus a chance to keep toxics out of our landfills by recycling old electronics.

County residents can bring computers, printers, radios, TVs -- just about anything with a plug -- plus cellphones and batteries to a collection trailer behind Sundial Books on Main Street anytime from May 6 to 12. (Large appliances, such as refrigerators, washers and dryers, are not included; please call the Town of Chincoteague to arrange pickup.)

On Saturday, May 12, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., the Robert Reed Downtown Park will again be transformed into an environmental and artistic jamboree, featuring live music, arts and crafts sales, nature and environment exhibits, food, and a kids' play area. Entry to the festival is free.

Live music includes Island favorite Ruth Wyand from North Carolina, local musician Greg Shupe & Men with Issues, The Eclecticians, and the Bombay Garden Jive Club.

Families will love the educational exhibits from Wallops Island Flight Facility, the Virginia Marine Science Consor-tium's touch tank, advice from the Eastern Shore Native Plant Council, eastern shore reptiles with Master Naturalist Ruta Vaskys and Waste Watchers of the Eastern Shore.

You'll want to check out the Chincoteague Garden Club's annual plant sale and our yearly Mother Earth Day Auction.

This year the auction includes four artfully redesigned carousel ponies from the carnival and benefits the Chincoteague Island Fire Company's Building Fund.

In addition to electronics recycling, on the day of the festival, bring any "gently used" items you can no longer use to the Hospice Truck (also located behind Sundial Books).

Hospice requests clothing, kitchen and household wares, furniture and knick-knacks.

Mother Earth Day is a program of the Chincoteague Cultural Alliance (CCA), and is supported by the Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce, Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, Davis Disposal, the Kiwanis Club of Chincoteague, Refuge Motor Inn, and WCTG.

CCA is a nonprofit and is supported by grants from the Town of Chincoteague, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Source:

For more information:  http://www.chincoteagueculturalalliance.org/ 

Nandua High Recycles Plastic Bags and Gets A New Bench

Students, staffers, classes and clubs at Nandua High School collected 152,145 plastic grocery bags to earn a new Trex wood-alternative bench.

ONLEY -- Three years ago, social studies teacher Casey Davis provided the impetus to start recycling at Nandua High School.

Today, 152,145 plastic grocery bags later, the school now proudly displays a bench made of recycled plastic and sawdust -- the award given to the Accomack County school that collected the most bags between Oct. 1, 2009, and Earth Day, April 22.

The program was launched by Trex, the country's largest manufacturer of wood-alternative decking, and Food Lion. Bags collected at the school were taken to Food Lion, where they were collected and moved to Trex's location in Winchester.

"I've been nicknamed the 'bag lady' at Food Lion," teacher Susan Wilder joked.

Wilder played a key role in starting the bag collection program at Nandua, and her class -- the program's "Grand Central Station" -- was essential in counting and tallying the bags collected by the school.

"She was instrumental," said English teacher Kathy Evans.

The plastic bag recycling program was launched in addition to the school's Hi-Y and Tri-Hi-Y recycling program, "because the convenience center didn't take plastic bags," Wilder said.

To provide incentive to recycle bags, Nandua initiated a school-wide competition among all first-block classes. At the end of each month, the class that collected the most bags was given a doughnut party, and the winner at the end of the semester held a pizza party.

Evans' AP English class won the competition.

"It was amazing how much fun we had with the bags. Once it was finished, the kids just wanted to continue with it," she said of her students.

Every Tuesday, Evans' class joins George Boggs and the Hi-Y and Tri-Hi-Y clubs for a school-wide collection of recyclables. The bags used to collect the recyclables are emptied and put in the bins provided by Trex.

Since Nandua's recycling initiative began, it has expanded to almost every classroom. Just a month ago, Nandua got a receptacle for its recyclables so students no longer have to load them onto the back of Boggs' truck.

The bench, which is made of 4,500 plastic bags, will eventually be placed outside to replace an older, broken-down bench.

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