Annual Earth Day event at Phinizy Center offers educational day of kid-friendly fun

If you're in the mood for some free family-friendly fun while learning about our environment, the annual Earth Day Augusta event is the place to be on Saturday.

The day of fun will be held at Phinizy Center for Water Sciences in Augusta at 1858 Lock and Dam Rd.

Kim Dillard, park and volunteer director at Phinizy Center for Water Sciences, said instead of having separate Earth Day events throughout the city it made more sense to partner with the City of Augusta and Augusta University to have one big event.

“Before the pandemic we would see over 7,000 people in attendance,” said Dillard. “That first year after it was a little over 2000. Last year, there were around 3,000 people. We're hoping we can continue to grow.”

Event hours are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event is open to the public. Attendees are invited to enjoy live entertainment and a variety of green business vendors, food and family activities.

“We have a lot of vendors that are connected to the Earth Day theme,” said Dillard. “These are vendors that practice sustainability, offer earth friendly products or do an educational outreach about conservation of our earth’s resources. Our food vendors will be practicing sustainable practices as well. They won't have plastic or Styrofoam; they will be using biodegradable products.”

Multiple activities are planned that specifically will appeal to children, said Dillard.

“We'll have animals from the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory and live birds,” said Dillard. “There will be a Kid Zone. We'll have the YMCA setting up with their obstacle course and bouncy houses. We'll have face painting as well. We’ll also have hayrides that will take people out into the wet cells and talk about our history and how we became the entity that we are today. So it’ll be one big celebration.”

The hope it to spark an early interest in the need for conservation.

“If we can reach one, that's one more person that's going to help us with conservation,” said Dillard. “And understand that the resources we have on Earth are limited," she said. "We have to be very conscious of how we're using those resources.”

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with several funders and Journalism Funding Funding Partners.

Erica Van Buren is the climate change reporter for The Augusta Chronicle, part of the USA TODAY Network. Connect with her at EVanBuren@gannett.com or on X: @EricaVanBuren32.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Earth Day Augusta offers free family friendly day of fun this Saturday