Earth Day celebration to be held at VGCC on April 22

Vance-Granville Community College will hold its fifth annual Earth Day festival on Thursday, April 22 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on the college’s main campus in Vance County. The event has been organized by the VGCC Ecology Club to educate the college and community about conservation in a fun, informative setting. This year’s celebration marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

Activities will take place outside around the Gazebo and courtyard areas, and will move into the VGCC Civic Center in the event of rain.

VGCC students, staff and faculty will provide live music, art displays, information on gardening and composting and demonstrations of solar panels, an electric car, home insulation, recycling and attracting bluebirds. Participants in the festival are scheduled to include the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, the N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island, American Wildlife Refuge, Tar River Land Conservancy, the N.C. Division of Air Quality, the Biofuels Center of North Carolina, Progress Energy, Granville Greenways, Jimmy Chalmers of Oxford, offering information on Bee-keeping, and Vance County Cooperative Extension, offering information on groundwater contamination.

The public is invited, but groups of six or more who are planning to attend are asked to contact VGCC science instructor Dr. Dan Settles at (252) 738-3449.

Above: From left, VGCC student Ariel Greenwood and Science instructor/program head Steve McGrady talk with Steve Stone of the American Wildlife Refuge of Rolesville at the 2009 VGCC Earth Day festival. (VGCC photo)