The Durant Sustainability Coalition’s annual Earth Day Festival is Saturday, April 25 at Dixon Durant (Rocket) Park with many activities scheduled for people of all ages.
Morning activities and breakfast start at 9 a.m. with the festival being from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Jeremy Spence, board chair of DSC, said partnerships for the event have been expanded to offer more activities. Previously, the festival was at Carl Albert Park, and Spence said Rocket Park is more centrally located with accessibility for many more Durant residents to come and have fun.
“That’s been a real big thing this year for being our third year and just to see the love and support that’s continued to grow year after year has just really been amazing to see that come to life,” Spence said. “Part of our mission statement with Durant Sustainability is to educate and energize our citizens and having an Earth Day as a central theme around sustainability. It’s a great opportunity because it’s free. There are tons of events and activities, moving your body, learning, and information. So, all these things kind of combined together really fit that energizing and educating and so we get to do it in a real fun environment.
“Any chance we get to bring citizens together to spend time with each other in the sense of safety and learning and fun, that just promotes a healthier community and so that overarching goal is to allow people to come out and be a part of something and make it easy for them to do that and so that fulfills another bigger purpose that were also trying to do as well.” Pickleball is one of the activities and Spence said many people don’t know how to play so one of the activities in the morning will be free lessons.
“There’s going to be even a little mini tournament so you can determine where your ranking is with pickleball,” Spence said. “So, that way you can go and play.”
Spence said that for someone who does not want to move so aggressively, Tai chi will be offered at 9 a.m.
“These are pre-festival events that you can come and take part,” Spence said. “We have food trucks that are also going to be out there. We’ve got a great Pinky Espresso, so we’ve got coffee and doughnuts first thing in the morning with food trucks all day long.”
The opening ceremony begins at noon and there will be a concert at 11:30 a.m. by the Green School Band.
“That’s going to be amazing,” Spence said. “They’re playing twice on Saturday to close us out as well. We’re going to have the Choctaw Nation Tribal Princesses out there. They’re going to be opening our ceremony with the Lord’s Prayer. Girl Scouts are going to be doing a ceremony. So, we’ve just got so many different people involved in bringing this together.”
According to Spence, there will be amazing and energetic speakers and activities for children.
“They’re going to be able to make little wind turbines out of cardboard, and they’ll be able to measure how effective they are at capturing wind energy,” Spence said. “They’re going to be able to make little solar panels to complete a circuit to learn how solar can charge and power things. These are again, all free.
“All accessible to families of all ages. Just one part of it from the key aspect of the kids. We also have over 40 vendors this year. The way the park is laid out, there’s a great layout for vendors, so you can casually walk and learn things. Shop sustainable goods, be turned on to new groups and organizations that you didn’t know what they were doing in Durant that you can become a part of and so there’s a little something for everybody to come and enjoy that day.”
Spence said DSC has several things that the organization focuses on: Recycling, cleaning up trash and making sure things that are recyclable do not end up in the landfill.
“Water, you know, is a very big thing for us as well,” Spence said. “Cleanliness and our use of it and then our tree canopy. We’ve got a park full of beautiful trees. Southeast Oklahoma is really known for their trees, and it doesn’t take long outside of this area to see they’re pretty magical. There are some really special canopy areas here in southeast Oklahoma, so we want to preserve those and mobility. Getting around by walking, by biking. Moving your body and not so much relying on cars.”
DSC strongly advocates for sidewalks, safe streets, clear markings and crosswalks, so motorists know that people are moving around on foot and bicycles, according to Spence, and he added that bicycles will be given away during the festival.
“We’re talking about moving our bodies with purpose and intention and so these really fit into and are aligned with what we’re really trying to promote and that’s a healthier, the cleanest, greenest, friendliest town in all of Durant,” Spence said. “That’s kind of our tagline we’re really trying to go for, DSC is. To become the cleanest, greenest, friendliest town in all of Oklahoma.”
Asked if these things will boost tourism, Spence replied, “Absolutely. That’s going to bring people that want to come and be a part of something that’s exciting. That’s growing. That’s building. So, that attracts good talent from a tourism standpoint, but it also attracts good residents to our community.
“Our community is growing and if we are able to have a voice and say, this is what it’s like to be a part of this community, that inline, should attract people that are going to be good residents for Durant. Future residents of Durant because if they’re going to come here with a purpose of understanding about what their town cares about, what we’re passionate about and what we want to do.
“So, I think these are twofold: Not only the tourism side of visiting and coming up more often from other regional places but also people that are going to move here and relocate here. There’s a nice community to be a part of. Quality of life, that’s a big score for people. Anywhere you’re moving, when you’re relocating for a profession, quality of life is a big, big metric for and so we’re also trying to chip away at that as well. Making sure that Durant can put its best foot forward.”