The annual Lowell Earth Day Parade and Festival is rapidly approaching and has new exciting festivities for the Lowell community. This is Lowell’s 46th year celebrating Earth Day and has grown dramatically over the years. It has even expanded into an entire Earth Month beginning just last year.

Maria Scholl, celebration administrator, says on the expansion, “We knew we still wanted to keep the parade as a core tradition, but wanted to get more Lowell organizations involved…each have created an Earth Day related event to add to our calendar including canal and city clean-up days, whitewater rafting trips on the Concord River, climate change film screenings, art workshops and sustainability lectures.” Scholl hopes this becomes a new city tradition and encourages students to get involved in the community through these events or even simply participating in national recycle week. “No act is too small to make an impact,” she says.

Since so many organizations are involved in Earth Month, Tyler Arrigo, program coordinator for the Office of Sustainability, says Earth Month is a great opportunity for students. “A lot of the organizations are looking for interns or have job opportunities, so it’s a great way for students to make connections with a wide array of community partners.”

Since Earth Month brings so many people together, it has a strong sense of optimism that blends well with the educational elements. Political Science Professor John Wooding and member of the university’s Climate Change Initiative says those involved in Earth Month “wanted to engage children, our students and the entire community to ignite ideas on how we move forward to protect the environment, prevent and prepare for climate change disasters, and promote sustainable practices in our lives.”

The parade and festival on Saturday, April 23 are by far the largest events of Earth Month. Scholl estimates there will be over 500 attendees gathering at the festival, located at the Inn and Conference Center (ICC).

Earth Day will begin with Urban gardening workshops at the ICC, led by Mill City Grows and will teach basic garden skills in an urban setting. Registration for this is at 10 a.m., while the workshops will be from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

The festival will begin following the workshops at 11:30 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. Here, there will be live music, performances, a seed swap and a gardening resources fair.

Those attending the parade will begin at National Historical Park Visitor Center and will end at the ICC. At the Visitor Center, parade attendees can arrive early for face-painting but must be there for the parade by 11:30 a.m. The mile-long parade will feature hand-made puppets, live bands, dancers, costumes, eco-conscious groups and hula-hoopers.

To see the full schedule of events throughout Earth Month and on April 23, visit lowellearthday.org.