Green and Clean, Earth Day bring climate awareness to community

Apr. 23—Frigid weather awaited nearly 50 volunteers who came out Saturday morning, April 20, for the annual Logan's Landing Downtown Green and Clean.

Last year's Green and Clean was canceled due to a stretch of bad weather and was later rescheduled to coincide with The United Way's Day of Caring.

The United Way was among the organizations represented Saturday morning, as members grabbed their brooms and bags and cleaned up a stretch of Third Street from Melbourne to High Street.

Susan Rothgeb was bundled up to help pull weeds. It was her first time participating in the event. She saw the Green and Clean posted on Facebook and wanted to help do something for the community.

Annie Fleer, an employee at Logansport State Hospital, also participated for the first time.

"It's better when it's a nicer day out but we like to be involved (in the community) when we can," she said.

Logan's Landing announced on Facebook after the event they had hired Terri Brazzle as its new executive director.

Logan's Landing organizes many events and beautification projects for downtown Logansport including Celebrate Logansport, the façade program that help downtown businesses improve their storefronts, Scarecrow row and more.

Earth Day

Not far from downtown in Riverside Park, the Logansport Parks & Recreation Department were celebrating Earth Day with a variety of programing inside the McHale Pavilion.

Many groups participated with special activities or giveaways for those in attendance.

Cass County Soil & Water gave away Norway Spruce and White Oak starters. Stand Up Cass County let children make buttons with pictures that read "Stand up for Clean Air" and "Being Me and Vape Free."

Home Depot also participated, letting kids build a wooden planted for seed starters. Armed with hammers and using Home Depot buckets for seats, the kids filled the pavilion with pounding as they built their planters for packets of carrot, cilantro and lettuce seeds.

The event also included presentations from the Southern Indiana Cooperative Invasives Management (SICIM), who spoke about invasive species, the Department of Natural Resources, who taught children about different animals, and the Wildcat Wildlife Center, who brought turtles and talked about animal rescues.

Kara Yax, recreation director with the parks department, said she loved seeing the community come together for one purpose: learning how to protect the environment.

"Hopefully they will see the resources that we have available here in Logansport and Cass County," she said.

Jessica Outcalt, Community Development Extension Educator for Purdue University Extension — Cass County, was on hand with American Toads for the children to see.

"Protecting the natural resources that we have in the Midwest is probably the best way that we have to move in to a brighter future," she said.

Trei Calloway, a Logansport High School senior, took time to help Cass County Water and Soil hand out their tree starters Saturday morning.

"It was an opportunity to volunteer with this whole Earth Day event," he said.

Calloway will attend Purdue University in the fall and is looking to work with soil and water in the future.

"The job has a lot to do with the environment," he said. "(The environment) is a great concern for me but I think it's really important to do what you can now in regards to helping with the environment. Just doing small things like volunteering here, it does wonders, I think."

Lily Walthery also volunteered Saturday, helping at the children's table where kids could draw and color pictures and play with plastic insects.

Walthery said as a young person she finds herself worry about the climate often.

"The future is my problem and it doesn't look too great," she said. "I think that we all just need to pay attention to what's going on and looking at the world and what's happening."

Parks administrator Janet Fawley was happy to see so many community partners participate in the event.

"The grand scheme is that we are trying to instill in children the importance of taking care of the earth," she said. "It's a tough thing to convey. At the same time, we are doing things like building and not paying attention to our rivers. It's hard to do but if we get a little bit of the message to them then I think that is a good thing."