Volunteers will gather throughout Montclair for a week of Earth Day activities to clean up parks around town. Organized by township officials, the Montclair Parks Recreation and Cultural Affairs Advisory Committee, the Northeast Earth Coalition, and other community groups, the week’s events are aimed at educating Montclair residents about how to preserve and restore the environment.
With the theme of “restoring our planet,” this year’s celebrations will be a combination of virtual events and small socially distant gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A complete list and registration forms for each event can be found on The Northeast Earth Coalition’s website.
“Every year on April 22nd, people around the world celebrate Earth Day. The day marks the beginning of the environmental movement in 1970, and for the past 51 years has resulted in policy change and a greater awareness of the environmental issues that we are facing like climate crisis, wat, and air pollution, and the extinction of pollinators and wildlife.
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The worldwide environmental agenda could be overwhelming for many, that is why the Northeast Earth Coalition promotes local awareness and the implementation of environmental projects in the communities that we serve,” said Jose German founder of The Northeast Earth Coalition. The NEEC has nine community projects in Montclair six more in northern NJ, that includes Totowa, Paterson, Passaic, and East Orange, according to German.
The week will start off with a zoom event on Saturday, April 17th at 10 a.m.The zoom will host the week’s kick-off events, including screenings of community environmental projects submitted by Montclair residents focusing on how they are preserving and restoring the environment.
Sunday, April 18th at noon, there will be a webinar on “Vegetable Gardening for Beginners.” April 19-22, there will be a series of talks on the importance of community gardens at the 94 Pine Street Community Garden.
April 24th and 25th will be “Montclair Parks Appreciation Weekend,” according to the MPRCA-AC andNEEC. Volunteers will come together over the weekend to assist with cleaning up 15 parks around Montclair.
The first Parks Appreciation was held in November, where volunteers cleaned up parks in all four of Montclair’s wards.
“We look forward to bringing Montclair’s residents together to commemorate Earth Day by showing appreciation for the many green spaces we’ve relied upon especially heavily over this past year. The engagement of our volunteers during this past November’s Parks Appreciation Weekend was extremely encouraging, in particular the strong showing by the Montclair Public School student community.” Said Alliah Agostini Livingstone, Co-Chair, MPRCA-AC, in a statement.
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Cleanup Schedule
Saturday, April 24:
- Canterbury Park at 9AM
- Graz Park at 9AM
- Nishuane Park at 9AM
- Crane Park at 10AM
- Edgemont Park at 10AM
- Sunset Park at 10AM
- Tuers Park at 10AM
- Yantacaw Brook Park at 10AM
Sunday, April 25:
- Essex Park at 10AM
- Yantacaw Brook Park at 10AM
- Porter Park at 12PM
- Erie Park at 1PM
- Rand/Skate Park at 1PM
- Watchung Park at 2PM
“It’s so moving to see so many people want to literally roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty and get to work to help make all of our parks even better than they already are,” said Councilman Peter Yacobellis, Council Liaison to MPRCA-AC. “Something that I’ve noticed in this pandemic is an awakening of a true spirit of service among the people of this town, and it’s been beautiful to watch. Thank you to everyone who is helping.”
