Earth Day Pensacola, a family-friendly celebration and educational event, will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., April 23, at Bayview Park. Festivities will include dancing, music, art and food vendors, and in keeping with this year’s theme, “Energy, Transportation and Sustainability,” there will be hybrid vehicles on site, solar panel and gardening demonstrations, and a drawing for a free bicycle. 

The celebration will feature a kids’ area that will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. “Thanks to Bikes Plus, we will be giving away a bike to some lucky boy or girl,” says organizer Mary Gutierrez, executive director of Earth Ethics Inc. Participants must be present to win and must get a ticket one hour before the announcement of the winner.

In the weeks prior to the festival, Earth Day Pensacola and Ever’mans Educational Center will host two lunch and learn programs. The April 7 program will focus on transportation, with guest speakers Dan Deanda, planner for rideOn, a program of the West Florida Regional Planning Council (WFRPC); Tonya Ellis, director of marketing and public relations for Escambia County Transit; and Vikki Garrett, regional transportation planner for the WFRPC. “You’ll learn about carpooling, our current and future transportation systems and the possibility of rail coming back to Pensacola,” Gutierrez says. 

The April 14 program will focus on solar and wind energy, with guest speakers to include Dan Gardner, principal and co-founder of Compass Solar. Both programs will be held at 11:30 a.m. at Ever’mans. Participants can bring brown-bag lunches or drop by Ever’mans’ hot/cold bar for a healthy lunch.

For additional information, contact [email protected].