The Earth Day event is right around the corner! This year’s event will be held Saturday, April 17, from 12-8 PM in Elmwood Park.

The event will consist of many demonstrations and individual events highlighting the importance of taking care of the earth. There will be speakers, bands, and other activities, throughout the course of the afternoon and evening, according to event chair, Craig Moody. This year’s band selection will be a variety of local bands including Platte River Rain, Matt Cox, Korey Anderson Band, Broken Truth and Brad Hoshaw, and The Seven Deadlies will be accompanied by Tuvan throat singers, Alash Ensemble.

Also, new to this year’s program, there will be hundreds of non-profit organizations explaining the importance of going green and how their companies succeed in doing so.

“In addition to all the information that will be available, six food vendors will be set up with all kinds of food including pizza as well as beer,” Moody said. “There will also be a station on electronic recycling, which will be available for electronic drop-off until 6pm.”

One of the most unique additions to this year’s event is that attendees are encouraged to ride their bikes. A community bike shop will be in the parking lot waiting for riders, and will provide bike locks and information regarding how to keep your bike clean, and well taken care of.

“As the premier event championing the health of the environment, it only makes sense to encourage our visitors to choose environmentally responsible transportation,” Moody said

The Earth Day event of 2010 will have many more activities for children than is the past. These include activities such as barrel painting, a rock climbing wall, and seed planting, among other fun games.

“There will be a huge children’s area,” Moody said. “It will be much larger than it has been in years past. It will be a lot of fun.”

Although the children will surely be occupied, adults will have plenty to keep them busy as well! Among their activities are the various demonstrations held by non-profit organizations and a tree walk, in which people will learn how to identify different types of trees, just to name a few.

A complete listing of events and demonstrations can be found at http://earthdayomaha.com/schedule.php