Earth Day Festival brings recycled art and sustainable giveaways

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Priscilla Hawkins

As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Clever, artfully designed treasures will be on view at the 4th annual Tallahassee Earth Day Festival from 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 19, at The Hole at 3030 South Adams Street.

Community resilience and planet celebration

This year’s theme, “Our Power, Our Planet,” highlights how vital the conscious commitment of people is to the preservation and future progress of saving our planet. The festival focuses on showing residents how they can make a difference in this effort with easily made daily contributions by using sustainable products and being aware of environmental issues that erode our planet and our health.

Started in 2022 by Camille Lewis, owner of Earth’s Garden, and Bruce Strouble, Executive Director of Citizens for a Sustainable Future, this family-friendly, alcohol and smoke-free event will feature hands-on activities focused on environmental justice and sustainability.

Strouble refers to the event as a community-building initiative, saying, “This is part of a larger community movement toward building up and strengthening community resilience and sustainability. It’s a beautiful thing that we can still come together and celebrate our planet. And we’re doing it in a way that reinforces our commitment to America and environmental justice.”

The Wall of Art and The Artcycle Project

Whitney Moore, Community Engagement Director for Promise Land Urban Farm, has been organizing all the artists as part of this year’s festival. Moore has coordinated three interactive art projects at the festival. There will be an art wall with a large cloth on which attendees can write personal environmental statements, draw designs, and sign their names with paint provided by the organizers.

Another interactive feature is the “Artcycle Project,” which will display 10 60-gallon waste bins repurposed into sculptural art by local artists and organizations who answered the call to produce these functional works of art. This interactive will allow attendees to help transform two additional bins into their own works of art. When finished, both bins will be given away to two lucky individuals at the festival.

The Cleo Institute, shown at last year's Earth Day Festival, will have interactive environmental art projects at the festival on April 19, 2025.

“Artcycle” is an ongoing project, and interested individuals can find out how to submit their own recycled bins with Promise Land Urban Farm.

The “Artcycle Project” is a trash education program that infuses environmental responsibility with original art to bring new attention to the practice of recycling,” said Moore. “Recycling is the gateway to getting people to play a larger role in solving environmental problems. Everyone can recycle, reduce, and reuse,” she added.

One of the most rewarding interactive projects involves The Recycling Store, where attendees can bring recyclable plastic bottles, cups, and aluminum cans from home to exchange for redeemable points to get event T-shirts, stickers, canvas bags, and other items. Attendees are encouraged to bring 13-to-30-gallon bags full of recyclables to exchange for merchandise. The Recycling Store will also be available at future festivals Promise Land Urban Farm participates in during the year.

For the community, by the community

This year’s festival activities include workshops by Compost Community, interactive environmental art projects by The Cleo Institute, food vendors such as Verde Bites providing cooking demonstrations, Seedtime Harvest with ‘How to Grow Your Farming Business,’ and performances by Griffin Middle School Tigerettes Dance Team, Raa Middle School Band, and Brownsville Preparatory Institute.

In past years, entertainment has included DJ services by VEZ Productions, face painting, and organizations offering small art projects like painting on recycled cardboard.

Free parking will be available across the street (110 Paul Russell Road, corner of South Adams) in the Planet Fitness parking lot (formerly Winn Dixie grocery store location).

Leon County Sheriff’s Department will direct street traffic. Event volunteers will be in the parking lot to help identify available spaces. The event is free to the public, and attendees are encouraged to register early for quicker entry. You can register at the gate when you arrive. Organizer Camille Lewis says, “This is a festival for the community, by the community, and it’s always a great time.”