In four years, Noyo Food Forest”s Earth Day has gone from a garden party to one of the busiest events on the festival-rich Mendocino Coast.
Noyo Food Forest Executive Director Susan Lightfoot remembers the blessing circle and digging party of 2007, attended by about 50 people. That increased to 750 people in 2008, 1,500 in 2009 and about 2,800 through the gate counter on a sunny last Saturday. The number of participating sponsors and events has increased on a similar scale.
“This was totally fabulous, everything went really well. The only thing I can think of for next year is to find a way to raise some money for our activities the rest of the year. We just a little more than break even. We may have to look at charging for the event,” said Lightfoot.
As usual, the Noyo Food Forest event at Fort Bragg High School”s Learning Garden had very strong appeal to young people, whose attendance is far less at some traditional events. There was music from all ages, even from elementary schoolers, a fashion show using garbage and recycled products, a high school art show, lots of music and food, and a big after-party at the Caspar Inn, also new this year.
Noyo Food Forest provides the agriculture program at Fort Bragg High and offers learning opportunities for students and dozens of community volunteers in its organically farmed vegetable beds.
Among the new events for 2010 was a culinary showcase, where chefs demonstrated their work along with a variety of other presentations. A large stage was set up in an athletic field further into the high school grounds, where music and drama happened all day.
Miles Everett was involved in the first Earth Day in 1970 as a college student in Oregon. He thinks Earth Day is now more fun and action-oriented than in the beginning, when political campaigns against horrible pollution were the norm. Those efforts help bring fish back to dead rivers and lakes and reduce the use of toxic pesticides.
“Today, the issues seem bigger but they really aren”t. We just didn”t know then about all the effects of what we were doing,” Everett said.
He likes the hands-on nature of modern Earth Days, where people are putting their hands in soil and finding new ways to consume less and more locally.
“There was no way back then even to recycle,” Everett said.
One sponsor that got a special thank you from Lightfoot was Thanksgiving Coffee, which not only has been with Noyo Food Forest from the beginning, but also opened up part of their harbor property for a community garden.
There were more than 30 businesses that purchased sponsorships this year and more than 30 local groups that provided information tables at the event.
In a student art show and popular choice contest, Matthew Rashad was the winner with a black and white pencil sketch, with second prize going to Kendra Bradley and third to Anna Leach.
