Earth Day celebration Saturday in Lovell

The Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area will host this year’s Lovell Area Community Earth Day Festival to be held on Saturday at the Downtown Mural Park in Lovell. The event will take place from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.“Several organizations, businesses and agencies have worked together to help make this day possible,” said Bighorn Canyon NRA Chief Interpreter Christy Fleming. “There will be booths covering everything from composting to mining methane gas in landfills to environmental mining practices.”The event will kick off with a welcome by Fleming at 10 a.m. followed by numerous speakers including Gary Emmett, Dallen Smith, Cory Cole, John Delve, Marji Patz and others. Smokey Bear will make a special guest appearance and numerous other activities and demonstrations will take place.“The Lovell Area Community Earth Day Festival includes volunteer organizations, mining industry, federal and state land agencies, and downtown businesses,” explained Fleming. “Each group has designed family friendly booths that focus on a way we can all help to protect the environment. The festival is a fun way for all of us to learn about environmentally friendly habits organizations have adopted that we all can incorporate into our daily lives to make every day Earth Day.”Also in conjunction with Earth Day, the Hyart Theatre will show a three-minute film about the Wilderness Act before each main feature this Friday and Saturday, Fleming said.For more information, contact Fleming at 548-5402.Saturday’s schedule10 a.m.    Welcome, Christy Fleming10-10:30    Reclaiming Mining Lands, Wyo-Ben/American Colloid10:30-11    Composting, Gary Emmett11-11:30    High Tunnel Green House, Dallen Smith11:30-12    Rainfall Simulator, Dan Mattke12-12:30    Methane Gas Mining from Landfills, John Delvo12:30-1    Drought Tolerant Landscaping, Marji Patz