Earth Day is almost here!

Here at Keep Pasco Beautiful we are all about educating the community on litter prevention and waste reduction, not to mention our love affair with trees. So it would make sense that Earth Day is our favorite holiday. For 22 years Earth Day has been celebrated in Pasco County on the 4th Saturday of April, which is the official day for Earth Day this year. Our earth friendly shindig is happening on April 22nd from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m at Crews Lake Park. If you haven't been to this gorgeous place, you need to check it out. It has that old Florida feel with the giant Live Oaks and Spanish moss. The park is located at 16739 Crews Lake Drive in Spring Hill, there will be signs to direct you to the festivities once you get there.

This is a family friendly event so there will be lots of activities to keep the kiddles entertained. We know when the kids are busy and happy, parents are all smiles as well. There will be children’s crafts, the interactive water ventures learning lab, a ladybug release, Rick's Raptor Rescue and Spike the 10 foot alligator from Croc Encounters. Children will have a blast and learn something along the way. For adults there is a Florida Native plant sale, adoptable pets, Suncoast Trail Earth Day Ride, and various upcycle and farmers market vendors. It you get hungry while you're out there you can snag a burger at the concession that Mary Giella Elementary school is doing as a PTA fundraiser.

For those of you that want to learn something new there will be two workshops offered by the UF|IFAS Extension. The Rain Water Harvesting Workshop will be at 10am and the Composting Workshop will be 12:30 pm. Pre-registration required online at http://pasco.ifas.ufl.edu . Click on events calendar, scroll to April for form.

Once again there will be a household hazardous waste collection during the event including electronics recycling. The first two TVs per person are free, after that there is a charge of $7 per TV. The pill take-back program is participating again so you will be able to dispose of any expired or unused medications. Document shredding by Shred 360 will be

there from 10 am to 1 pm. There is a limit of 5 boxes/bags per person. Bring a mercury containing device (excluding light bulbs) for disposal and receive a $5 gift card. So go clean out your garage and bring all that nasty stuff with you so that it gets disposed of properly.

It takes a village to protect our Earth, and a group of amazing tree huggers to put on this event. This event is a collaboration between Covanta Pasco Inc., Keep Pasco Beautiful, Pasco County Utilities, Pasco County Recycling and Education Department, Pasco County Parks and Recreation, Pasco County UF|IFAS Extension and the Pasco County School Board.

If you have any questions about Earth Day hit us up at info@keeppascobeautiful.org . We will have a booth set up so make sure you stop by and say hi.