ELLICOTT CITY, MD – Howard County Government will host its 15th annual GreenFest on Saturday, April 9th from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Howard Community College’s (HCC) Burrill Galleria, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia. This free event offers something for all ages, featuring exhibits, demonstrations, workshops, outdoor activities and practical tips for easy ways to “green” your home, workplace and lifestyle.
GreenFest is an exciting opportunity for our community to come together and make Howard County an environmental leader. By planting trees, supporting local food systems, nurturing pollinators, improving local water quality, conserving energy, and harvesting clean and renewable electricity, Howard County is tackling the effects of climate change. I encourage our neighbors to come by and get native plants or a rain barrel or a compost bin, and learn how we can all do our part to protect the climate. Thank you to the volunteers who make the county’s largest Earth Day celebration an innovative event where best practices come to life.
As Howard County’s largest Earth Day celebration, this annual event aims to connect residents with the resources that our local businesses, nonprofits and government provide to help anyone be a good steward of the environment.
GreenFest 2022 will host more than 50 vendors, including solar companies, environmental nonprofits and government agencies, and the popular native plant sale. There will be informational workshops on topics such as addressing backyard habitat landscaping and where plastic pollution and climate change intersect, waste diversion and other learning opportunities. Attendees can also learn about local wildlife, including up close experiences with live birds, reptiles and other animals in the Wildlife Room.
In the main exhibit hall, the County’s Recycling Division will honor local businesses and community organizations by presenting its annual “Business Recycling and Waste Reduction” and “Green Community Leadership” awards.
Also, back by popular demand is the FREE document shredding event, where residents can shred up to three bags or boxes of paper documents per person from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (or until the trucks are full) in Parking Lot A.
This year the Repair Café is also back on site. Visitors can bring in broken items from home, such as toasters, lamps, clothes, bicycles, toys or electronics. Volunteer repair specialists will evaluate the items and fix as many as they can for free and can also provide advice about items too large to bring along. To register beforehand to let the Repair Café gurus know what items you plan to bring, visit www.HCGreenFest.org.
Attendees are encouraged to think green with their means of transportation to this year’s event to help reduce the event footprint. Consider walking, carpooling, biking or using public transportation. There are bike racks located throughout HCC’s campus and Regional Transportation Agency (RTA) will be running its normal route from Columbia Town Center to HCC throughout the day. For RTA route information and schedule, call its customer service line at 1-800-270-9553 or visit www.transitrta.com.
For more information and the day’s event schedule, visit www.HCGreenFest.org or contact Alan Wilcom, GreenFest Co-chair, at 410-313-6444 or email awilcom@howardcountymd.gov.