Launching live this Saturday at 10:00 a.m.
information released
Since 1989, the fair has been the community’s unofficial coming out party for Spring. Riverwalk Park traditionally swells with visitors, and one of the longest running Earth Day events in the state has grown to include over 100 educational booths and demonstrations, arts and crafts vendors, a large collection of electric vehicles, local produce and a book and plant sale.
Facing the challenge of hosting an event during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizers decided to reinvent the wheel for 2021 and go virtual. First, they had to figure out just how to define that.
The answer came from an unlikely place, thousands of miles away. A group in Piedmont, North Carolina managed to put together a virtual Earth Day fair last year, by combining informative and fun video segments with live presentations and panel discussions via Zoom.
Of course, Chelan has a habit of putting its own spin on things. So it was decided to take advantage of the opportunity to capture some of the fun and color that the fair is known for, but also to present information in an entirely different way,
The answer is to utilize the chelanearthdayfair.org website to digitally host the fair this year. The goal is to still have the full slate of activities, music and information of the traditional fair, and combine it with live discussions and Q & A’s with experts on topics from ways to preserve Lake Chelan’s water quality, the Chelan Rotary glass repurposing project, to backyard chickens. Links to the live sessions will be available on the Earth Day fair website.
April 17th will also mark the release of a one hour video designed to highlight the various aspects that make up the fair in the park, including musical performances by Kevin Jones, Older & Wiser and Savanna Woods, interviews with experts from the Lake Chelan Research Institute and Cascadia Conservation, and the latest in electric vehicles with Plug In NCW.
Attending is easy, and you can do it from anywhere you have an internet connection. Fair goers will also be encouraged to check out the virtual vendors row. For complete details on the Saturday Earth Day Fair be sure to visit chelanearthdayfair.org.
