Sneak Previews And Environmental Films Will Be Part Of April 30 Earth Day Festival

By Kendra Bobowick

Visitors to the Fourth Annual Newtown Earth Day Festival will have the opportunity to peek inside a movie screening booth, where they can view the movie Living Downstream, sponsored by Audubon Connecticut.

It’s moving and powerful,” said Jeff Cordulack, events and communications manager of Audubon Greenwich. According to the society, the film is an “ecologist’s personal investigation of cancer and the environment” created by filmmaker and scientist Sandra Steingraber who, according to Mr Cordulack, talks about links between toxins, the environment, and personal health. As written on the film’s website, “Living Downstream is a powerful movie about the intimate connection between the health of our bodies and the health of our air, land, and water. Through the story of one woman, Sandra Steingraber, filmmakers follow invisible toxins as they migrate .... See how these chemicals enter our bodies and why scientists believe they are making us sick.”

Audubon Connecticut is sponsoring the screening “to help raise awareness of issues of toxins,” said Mr Cordulack.

Also in the screening tent will be a sneak preview of the local Pootatuck watershed’s film regarding local water quality, said Sustainable Energy Commission Chairman Dan Holmes. “All day we’ll be having different films.”

The fourth annual family friendly event will again be populated with events for all ages. The festival will be presented at Newtown Middle School, 11 Queen Street, from 10 am to 4 pm. The event is free of charge.

The theme of this year’s festival is “From Farm To Table.” Organizers will highlight the farms and sustainable natural resources of Connecticut and the community.

The primary mission of the festival, according to a statement from Newtown Sustainable Energy Commission Chairman Dan Holmes, “is to foster education and awareness of environmental stewardship. This community event will bring together schools, municipal and charitable organizations, sustainable vendors, and nonprofits, in a celebration of good deeds for our space on the planet.

“The festival,” Mr Holmes continued at NewtownEarthDay.org, “will provide a forum for residents of all ages to become more engaged in the responsibility we owe to the health of Newtown — and to our region’s soil, air, and water.”

While most events will begin at 10 o’clock, beginning at 9 am Saturday morning, members of Newtown Lions Club will have trash bags, gloves and street assignments available for those who would like to get an early start on the club’s annual Lose The Litter Effort. Volunteers can select a street or take a random assignment, and head out with bags in hand in order to clean up roadside litter that has accumulated during the winter.

The Earth Day Festival will also offer kids’ activities, live music, food, a silent auction, a “Birds of Prey” demonstration.

“It’s the perfect day for helping our community become a bit more aware of being ‘green,’” promoter Bill Buchler’s stated recently via email.

Proceeds of the festival will support a recently established green scholarship at Newtown High School.

The celebration also includes the return of a recycled art show, promoted by Newtown Cultural Arts Commission. Artists of all ages have been urged to “reuse, recycle, reinvent,” using what they can find to turn trash into art. The majority of each entry — about 70 percent — must be of surplus packaging material, cardboard, newspaper or “whatever is in abundance on hand.”

Visit www.NewtownEarthDay.org for a full list of the day’s events, vendors, and entertainment.

Rain date is Sunday, May 7.