Holmdel Earth Day Festival, Greenway Walk Is April 28

HOLMDEL, NJ — In Holmdel, citizens and environmentalists of all ages are preparing to celebrate the 54th Earth Day, with a festival on April 28 at Bayonet Farm.

The official date of Earth Day is April 22. According to its website's history tab, the first Earth Day date in 1970 was chosen to be "in between spring break and final exams" - convenient for students energized to counter decades of industrial pollution.

Today, Earth Day is an opportunity for communities everywhere to acknowledge the planet and inspire a resolve to control such global threats as climate change and plastics.

In Holmdel, the preserved woods and picturesque trails of Bayonet Farm bring people closer to nature, and that's where the festival will take place - from noon to 5 p.m. on April 28, a Sunday. Bayonet Farm is at 41 Middletown Road, Holmdel 07733.

The event is brought to the community thanks to the Holmdel Environmental Commission and Citizens for Informed Land Use.

Admission, shows, tours and parking are all free.

Here are some of the events that are planned and their locations on the Bayonet Farm property that includes barns and the Laura Harding House, where tours will be offered.

Greenway Walk:

Come early to explore the trails at Bayonet Farm for a two-mile loop that begins at the Harding House at 11 a.m. and returns just as the Earth Day festivities begin.

Exhibits/Shows:

• Monmouth County Master Composters
• Save Coastal Wildlife
• Antinanco Earth Arts School
• NY/NJ Baykeepers
• Holmdel Green Team
• Holmdel Historical Society
• Native Plant Sale

Activities:

• 1 p.m.: Kim's Critters presents Turtle vs Tortoise; Grey Barn
• 2 p.m.: Touch Mother Earth Drum Circle; on the lawn near the Red Barn
• 3 p.m.: Angela Juffey, What’s the Buzz on Bees?; Grey Barn
• 4 p.m.: Mammal Mania/Eyes of the Wild; Grey Barn
• 12 noon to 5 p.m.: Monmouth County Parks “Nature on the Move” van; by the Red Barn

Harding House Tours: 12:30 p.m.; 1:30 p.m.; 2:30 p.m.; 3:30 p.m.; 4:30 p.m.

There are also nature crafts for kids and a bake sale and Red Barn Deli.

For more information and to obtain weather status that day, go to www.holmdel-cilu.org or visit CILU on Facebook.

To learn more about the history of Earth Day, including footage from the Walter Cronkite CBS News special report about the first Earth Day, visit the Earth Day history site.