Plastic Picnic Products Still Needed for Point Boro Earth Day Event

Plans for the first annual Point Pleasant Borough Earth Day Celebration are well underway. Event coordinator, Tierra Giorno, says that it should be a great event. "Earth Day is a worldwide event that everyone should commemorate," said Giorno. "It is a day when we appreciate our shared planetary home and consider ways to save her. Our Celebration will help raise awareness of the importance of Earth."

The Earth Day Celebration will be held at Community Park and will include a cookout, carnival games, and even kid rides on Bella, the burro of Point Pleasant. Giorno says that the borough was lucky to get some sponsors to help fund the event.

"I was able to get a major oil company to provide prizes for our carnival games," said Giorno. "We'll have plastic inflatable Earth beachballs, some Styrofoam glider planes, a bunch of toy cars, and some nice plastic dolls. For the adults, the oil company will be giving out free quarts of oil. Isn't that great?  After all, oil comes from the Earth. In many ways, it's like our planet's milk." A charcoal briquette company is supplying disposable grills and charcoal for the event.

There will also be a number of craft booths. "We have some great Earth oriented crafters signed up. There is a gentleman who carves animals from redwood trees. Another crafter recycles Styrofoam plates into disposable Styrofoam coffee cups. One of my favorite crafters makes pillows that are filled with bald eagle feathers. They are the softest pillows ever and such a great symbol of American nature. I bought two, but even so, the seller won't tell me where he gets all the feathers. Must be a trade secret!"

"Many activities are planned for children," said Giorno. "There will be a battery burying game. Each kid will put on a plastic apron and wear disposable gloves,  then they will bury used batteries in the ground so they learn that garbage needs to be disposed of properly. There will also be a raft building contest. A bottled water company has donated a pallet of bottled water. We'll dump out the water and then give the empty bottles to the kids to glue and tape together into small rafts or boats. What a great lesson in recycling! Imagine the fun when they release their recycled rafts in the canal or ocean!"

The only items that Tierra Giorno and her volunteers still need are some paper and plastic products. "I'm hoping that members of the community will step up and help us out. We need some paper or plastic table cloths. Plastic will be better because they'll last longer. We could also use some napkins, plastic utensils, plastic cups, plastic straws and coffee cups." Giorno says if you can help, please send an email to her at: Tierra.Giorno@gmail.com

Earth Day Celebration will begin at 4:00 pm on April 22. Giorno says the event will go on, rain or shine. Disposable umbrellas and plastic rain ponchos will be available if there is inclement weather.

"We've mailed our brochure to everyone in town and in the coming days will be putting up hundreds of flyers with more details. I hope to see everyone there,"  said Giorno. "Be sure to stay until 7:00 pm when will release 100 Mylar Earth Day themed balloons! What a great way to spread the message of Earth Day! As we watch them soar, we will be reminded how the sky envelops Mother Earth in an eternal hug!" The celebration will include a cookout with hundreds of charcoal broiled burgers as well as a pig roast. The evening will end with a bonfire of old tires. "We can all feel glad that those tires won't end up in a landfill!" said Giorno,

Giorno is also seeking volunteers to help clean-up after the event. "A big gathering like this generates a lot of trash. I hope some conscientious attendees will stay a little later to help us bag up all the trash, and unused supplies and uneaten food so it can all be discarded properly. One of the lessons of Earth Day is that we have to keep our parks clean!"