Northfield gears up for 15th perennial Earth Day celebration

This year in honor of Northfield’s 15th perennial Earth Day celebration, most of the events will be held at Armory Square, rather than dispersed around the city as in previous years.

To kickoff this year’s Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 27, Northfield organizers will host a contra dance the night before on Friday, April 26 from 7-10 p.m. at Armory Square.

From 9-11 a.m. participants can enjoy a series of family-friendly morning workshops include build a bluebird house; Emerald Ash Borer, compost for families; t planting in the Arb; bee lawns; city paper shredding; indigo dying; stormwater smarts, and more.

The afternoon events at Armory Square from 12 -4 p.m. include eco exhibitors, local market and music, kids activities, electric vehicles and the bookmobile.

For a complete list of events, visit northfieldearthday.com.

Saturday afternoon speakers include a welcome by Northfield Mayor Rhonda Pownell at 4:30 p.m. followed by City Administrator Ben Martig discussing sustainability projects. At 5 p.m., Peter Wyckoff, assistant commissioner of Minnesota Department of Commerce Inflation Reduction Act, will talk about “Creating a clean energy economy.”

“The Northfield Earth Day Celebration is approved and sponsored by the city of Northfield,” said Earth Day organizers on its Facebook page. “Our perennial event is where the community can join free workshops and learn new skills, engage in community service and make connections at our Sustainability Exhibitor fair.”

This year’s event is sponsored by Novel Energy Solutions, joins gold sponsors the City of Northfield, Armory Square, Northfield Rotary, Carleton College, Sustainability Office and Center for Community and Civic Engagement. Silver sponsors include Just Food Co-op, Northfield Curbside Compost and Regenerative Agricultural Alliance; and bronze sponsors include Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Clean River Partners, Deaf Friendly Biz, League of Women Voters of Northfield and Cannon Falls, Sharing Our Roots, Tanzenwald, MNL Corp and Keepsake Cidery.