Saturday’s cold and blustery weather didn’t provide the perfect backdrop for an outdoor activity, but 8-year-old Annabel Ibatuan of Geneva didn’t seem to mind.
“I want to look around Peck Farm Park and see what’s happening,” the youngster said at the Geneva Earth Day Celebration, adding that her parents told her “that it’s important to protect the Earth.”
Organizers from Geneva’s Natural Resources Committee, in conjunction with the Geneva Park District, came together to stage the celebration at Peck Farm Park at 4038 Kaneville Road in Geneva.
The event honored Earth Day, which is officially set to be celebrated around the world on Monday.
Organizers said the Geneva event honoring Earth Day now has a 15-year history and began as a way to educate people about the environment.
Jay Womack, 60, chair of the Geneva Natural Resources Committee, said the event has changed over the years.
“When we first started this we really weren’t sure what we were doing or who would come, so we started by selling rain barrels. We were giving people educational pamphlets about what they could do at their homes regarding conservation,” Womack said. “It’s really morphed more into being more than just education. We’ve got quite a few groups that are collecting things that are really important like electronics and the paper shredding. We’ve got a group that collects old shoes called Jolly Old Soles and they will repurpose them.”
Textile repurposing, as well as a group called Flat Can Recycling that collects latex paints, were also part of the Geneva event, along with a host of activities that included a scavenger hunt, Geneva Park District games, a chalk art Earth mural, rain barrel sale, tree whip and tomato plant giveaways, a self-guided prairie tour and more.
The event usually draws about 500 people.
“We’re hoping we reach a large audience and people get something out of this,” Womack said. “We hope that a decade and a half later there’s more awareness. We have a group of people that bring their electric cars out as well as electric bikes. I love getting kids involved because they come out with an energy that unbeatable by anyone.”
Karen Konopka of South Elgin said she has come to Earth Day events at Peck Farm before.
“I think it’s important to learn about taking care of plants and our environment where we live and keeping things safe and for kids to learn what our environment is about, our ground about, and what plants can do and how we can take care of things,” Konopka said while showing off a free tomato plant she got at the celebration. “I’m going to plant this in the front by my townhouse in another container because I can’t plant anything in the ground. This reminds me of when I had a house and was outside planting and being in the sun.”
Annabel Ibatuan’s mother Katie Ibatuan said her family likes to visit Peck Farm Park and wanted to come “as our kids like to bike here a lot and we heard there were free plant giveaways.”
Chris Pakan of Geneva said she wanted to learn about recycling some items she owns.
She said the celebration Saturday had an important purpose.
“Earth Day – it’s good to remind people,” Pakan said. “Sometimes, we get careless about the things we do and need a gentle reminder.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
