Carter County Drug Prevention to host Earth Day Celebration Tuesday

Published 8:07 am Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Earth Day may be in two weeks, but many organizations are already kicking off their celebrations to raise awareness for Earth’s needs and society’s role in fulfilling them.

Carter County Drug Prevention is getting into this year’s Earth Day celebrations with a special community event Tuesday, April 9.

Participants will gather at the Elizabethton Parks and Recreation Center Tuesday to participate in a number of activities, including a recycled art project, relay games and more.

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“This will be our fourth Earth Day event,” CCDP Director Jilian Reece said.

She said the Community Advisory Board sponsors the event, which helps raise awareness for many organizations and methods with which citizens can take better care of their environment every day.

Reece said her favorite part of the day is how they raise awareness about Carter County’s community gardens.

“Not a lot of people know about them,” Reece said. “We have up to 31 gardens in Carter County.”

As part of this awareness project, Reece said everyone who attends will leave with a bag of seeds to plant at home to help start their own gardens.

In addition, she said they enjoy raising awareness of Elizabethton’s Farmer’s Market and the kinds of fresh, locally grown products customers can purchase there.

“The Farmer’s Market is a valuable resource in our community,” she said. “The Earth Day Celebration is just a small opportunity for the Community Advisory Board to help spread the word about it.”

The celebration will take place at Parks and Rec, located at 300 West Mill St., from 12:30 to around 2:30 p.m. Those who participate can also use the opportunity to sign up to assist with the community gardens and other local projects.

“There are so many valuable resources in Carter County, and we want to always make sure people are connected to those,” Reece said. “Earth Day is an opportunity for people around the world to think about taking care of the places we live, so it is a great day to create community and get people working together to make our community a better place.”