Earth Day Celebration to Feature Tesla car and an ELF

BY MELANIE BUCK –

A city-wide Earth Day Celebration is being planned by the Polk County Environmentalists and they hope that all will attend to learn more about a human’s footprint on the planet and how each can do their part to make that imprint a little smaller. The celebration will be held on Earth Day, Aprill 22^nd, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. in Janssen Park.

The event is set to feature many technological advancements that will wow visitors. The first is an ELF car – a solar-powered bicycle-car hybrid. Local owners, Marvin and Ann Glenn, will bring their ELF for all to see.

Also on hand will be a Tesla electric car. On Monday, April 10, 2017, Tesla was announced as having a market capitalization that is now bigger than General Motors’, making it the largest U.S. based automaker by that metric.

Event organizers said there will also be wind turbines, solar panels, and other solar-powered equipment such as radios, flashlights, and even a solar oven on display at the Earth Day Celebration.

From 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. that day, children will have the opportunity to have their photo taken with none other than Woodsy Owl, who has spent the last 46 years promoting the U.S. Forest Service’s “Give a hoot: Don’t pollute!” campaign. Woodsy’s most recent motto is “Lend a hand: Care for the land!”

Other children’s activities will include an arts and crafts table where an Earth Day poster or crown can be created among other things. Sunflower seed paintings and petting young chickens will also be available.

There will also be prizes, along with plenty of handouts about how to keep your family healthy and helping to conserve Earth’s resources.

Although this will be the first city-wide Earth Day celebration for Mena, Earth Day has been celebrated in the U.S. since 1970, when 20 million Americans helped start the modern environmental movement. Twenty years later, Earth Day went global. Now, 196 other countries celebrate Earth Day as well.

In conjunction with the Earth Day Celebration, Ouachita Little Theatre will host a showing of An Inconvenient Truth at 2:30 p.m. The 2006 film won two Academy Awards, and Al Gore shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his part in the project.

Everyone is invited and encouraged to share in the day’s events. “You’re invited to bring yourself, your family, your friends, and your neighbors for a fun and informative event celebrating Earth Day,” said event organizers.

About Author

Jeri Pearson

Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.

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