Going green events
Backyard Conservation Workshop. Learn about composting, rain garden construction and other topics, 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, Elachee Nature Science Center, 2125 Elachee Drive, Gainesville. Free, but preregistration required: 770-535-1976.
Elachee Pre-Order Spring Plant Sale. Place orders April 1-16, pick up noon-6 p.m. April 29, Elachee Nature Science Center. Order form and additional info available online at www.elachee.org or call 770-535-1976.
Bird’s Nest Invitational, April 8-May 29, Quinlan Visual Art Center, 514 Green St., Gainesville. Free.
Hall County Master Gardeners Spring Garden EXPO. 8 a.m.-6 p.m. April 9; 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. April 10. Chicopee Woods Agricultural Center, 1855 Calvary Church Road, Gainesville. Free; items available for purchase.
Great American Cleanup. Roadside litter cleanup sponsored by Keep Hall Beautiful, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. April 10, Flowery Branch Depot, downtown Flowery Branch. Free. 770-531-1102 or e-mail.
Students for Environmental Awareness Movies & Plant Sale. Plant sale, April 14; environmentally focused movies, April 15-22. Gainesville State College, 3820 Mundy Mill Road, Oakwood. Free. E-mail or click here for times and locations.
Earth Day Festival at Elachee Nature Science Center. Hikes, programs and crafts with staff and volunteers, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 17, Elachee Nature Science Center. Free. 770-535-1976.
“Water Music: Handel with Care.” Performances by music majors and staff to raise awareness of the importance of water in daily life, 3 p.m. April 17, Pearce Auditorium, Brenau University, 500 Washington St. SE, Gainesville. Free.
Earth Day Celebration. Plant exchange and festival, 1-5 p.m. April 17, Fisher’s of Men Christian Center, 2412 Old Cornelia Highway, Gainesville. 404-388-7194.
Hall County Recycling Center Open House. 3-5 p.m. April 22, Hall County Recycling Center, 1008 Chestnut St., Gainesville. Free. 770-535-8274 or e-mail.
Lanier Technical College Manufacturing Development Center Weatherization Open House. 3-5 p.m. April 22, Featherbone Communiversity. 999 Chestnut Street, Gainesville. Free. 770-535-9220.
“Happiness: Beauty, Faith, Economics and Ecology.” Earth Day panel discussion, 7-8:30 p.m. April 22, Banquet Hall, First Baptist Church of Gainesville, 751 Green St., Gainesville. Free.
Elachee Nature Science Center and other community organizations have come together to provide a variety of events and activities during this month, all in celebration of Earth Day.
The “Going Green” community events will kick off this weekend with a Backyard Conservation Workshop on Saturday at Elachee.
“We try to encourage people to compost at home and if the terrain and the need is there, how to create a rain garden to control storm water runoff,” said Andrea Timpone, executive director of the Elachee Nature Science Center. “I have one in my yard that works quite well from the runoff from my driveway, and it’s planted with plants and it’s starting to green up and it works really well.”
There are also different ways to compost, she added, and event attendees can see examples at Elachee. “I compost also, and we compost with all our school groups out here and have a demonstration area with several different kinds of composters.”
Elachee also will celebrate Earth Day with an Earth Day Festival on April 17.
“We will have classes on oreinteering and nature trivia, children’s crafts and a habitat restoration project,” she said. “And that is taking place in the woods in an area where we had treated for an invasive exotic plant, and we are going back in with natives and replanting with native plants.”
On Earth Day, April 22, there will be two open houses — one at the Hall County Recycling Center and another across the street at the Featherbone Communiversity in the Lanier Technical College Manufacturing Development Center. The day closes with guest speaker Robert R. Gottfried, a professor at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., with a panel discussion called “Happiness: Beauty, Faith, Economics and Ecology” at First Baptist Church on Green Street in Gainesville.
“It’s a whole green day,” Timpone said.