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CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) A change in location for “Earth Day” events. They will now be inside W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse due to wet conditions surrounding the Medicine Wheel Park. Meanwhile, Valley City Mayor Bob Werkhoven and Valley City State University president Steven W. Shirley signed a joint Earth Day proclamation during a Valley City Commission Meeting on April 15.
In signing the proclamation, Mayor Werkhoven and President Shirley pledged “to use this Earth Day…as a reminder of our duty to serve the best interests of our constituents by supporting environmental initiatives in our city and university, and to encourage others to undertake similar actions.”
The proclamation was signed a week ahead of Earth Day which will be celebrated in Valley City with a VCSU-hosted Earth Day Festival at Medicine Wheel Park from 5:00–9:00 p.m., Monday, April 22. (In case of inclement weather, the Earth Day Festival will be held inside the W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse on the VCSU campus.)
The festival will include musical performances, children’s activities and games, and informational tables emphasizing earth-friendly practices and products. Visit www.vcsu.edu/earthday for more information.
Valley City State University will host its second annual Earth Day Festival Monday, April 22, from 5:00–9:00 p.m. inside the W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse. The festival will highlight the celebration of Earth Week, with other events planned on the VCSU campus and Valley City through Thursday, April 25.
Participants can sign a recycling pledge at the welcome table to register for door prizes, and various groups and businesses will have tables set up emphasizing earth-friendly practices and products. Norway spruce tree seedlings will be given to the first 100 families attending.
Informational tables include:
• Prairie Waters Education and Research Center—program information and give-aways
• EBC Fraternity—electronic-waste recycling information and collection of discarded printer cartridges and cell phones for recycling
• Norwex—earth-friendly cleaning products
• Llama Trax Gardens—information about their garden-shares program
• VCSU Environmental Law and Regulations class—recipes and samples of homemade earth-friendly cleaning supplies
• Betco—supplier of green cleaning and floor-finishing supplies and equipment for businesses
• WELCA, Saviors Lutheran Church—selling Fair Trade coffee and cocoa
• “What in the World is Going On?” group—information about their “Solar Energy in Valley City?” panel discussion to be held Tuesday, April 23; recycled art activity; and Clay Jenkinson as President Thomas Jefferson
• Valley Recycling—information about recycling in Valley City
Kids’ activities began at 5:00 pm. and include earth-awareness coloring projects and bubble-blowing with bubble-blowers made from recycled materials. At 7:00 p.m., children may participate in a variety of old-fashioned games and win earth-friendly prizes.
Musical entertainment will began at 5:00 p.m. with performers Chuck Bowen, Charlie Kreidelcamp, Michael Whistler and Harley McLain performing half-hour sets. At 7:00 p.m. the VCSU Quantum Brass ensemble will perform, followed by the VCSU Sax Quartet at 7:30 p.m.
At 8:00 p.m. the festival entertainment will culminate with a performance by the Buffalo River Singers, a Native American group from Fargo-Moorhead, inside the W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse. The festival will conclude with opportunities for star-gazing through telescopes.
Valley City grocery stores—Marketplace Foods and Leevers Foods—donated paper grocery bags that the three elementary schools in Valley City are decorating with Earth Day pictures and slogans. The decorated bags will be used in the two grocery stores during Earth Week.
The VCSU community is invited to wear color-themed apparel Monday through Thursday, April 22–24. On Monday individuals are encouraged to wear green in support of keeping the planet green; Tuesday the color is blue in support of clean, healthy water supplies; Wednesday is white in support of a clean planet, and Thursday is yellow in support of a sun-shining, healthy atmosphere for our planet.
On Monday, April 22, members of the VCSU community will be encouraged to check their ecological footprints online at www.earthday.org/footprint-calculator. Members of the Valley City community are urged to do the same.
On Tuesday, April 23, at 7:00 p.m., Valley City’s “What in the World is Going On?” group will host a panel discussion on the topic of “Solar Energy for Valley City?” at Epworth Methodist Church, 680 8th Ave. SW, Valley City. Don Hoff, VCSU science professor; Jack Hansen, solar consultant at Enterprise Sales; and Dave Schelkoph, Valley City city administrator, will talk about the potential for residential and business solar energy in Valley City and surrounding areas. The discussion will be moderated by Dayne Zachrison, Epworth pastor.
Wednesday, April 24, is National Walk@Lunch Day. Members of the VCSU community will also be encouraged to walk or ride their bikes to and from work that day. Walkers and bikers may gather at 12:05 p.m. outside the VCSU Student Center for a short celebratory walk/ride. The VCSU Fisheries and Wildlife Club is also organizing a campus clean-up Wednesday afternoon.
On Thursday, April 25, members of VCSU athletic teams will do clean-up work at two city parks, and members of the VCSU community will be doing their spring highway clean-up as well.
The VCSU Earth Day Festival and Earth Week activities are coordinated by the Earth Week Committee headed by Bob Anderson, associate professor of science, and Rhonda Fairfield, executive assistant to the president. Volunteers include the VCSU Student Senate, members of the VCSU Fish and Wildlife Club, the VCSU Project Management class, select VCSU athletes and coaches, EBC Fraternity, Valley City’s “What in the World is Going On?” group, and VCSU staff, faculty, and emeriti faculty.