Walton County Earth Day Festival
Type: Nomination of a group, possibly including the nominator
Category: Achievement - Individual Program Leadership
1. AWARD NAME: INDIVIDUAL PROGRAM LEADERSHIP AWARD
2. NOMINATOR:
Sheila Dunning, UF/IFAS Okaloosa County Commercial Horticulture Extension Agent
5479 Old Bethel Rd. Crestview, FL 32536
850-689-5850
3. NOMINEE:
Brooke Saari, Sea Grant Marine Science Agent UF/IFAS Okaloosa/Walton Counties
ANREP Membership: Yes
5479 Old Bethel Rd. Crestview, FL 32536
850-689-5850
4. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Environmental education became an accepted term that grew in the 1960s in response to many environmental issues facing the country and world (NACD 1998). This term began to refer to what Sapp et al. (1969) considered to be the education of a citizenry on the environment, problems it faces, and how the individual can help. The first Earth Day was recognized on April 22, 1970 and was left in the hands of grass roots organizations to carry the idea forward.
Community festivals promote education of the public on various topics and allow for a fun engaging atmosphere. Festivals also attract a wide ranging audience and therefore increase outreach impacts on the local level. The Northwest Florida region holds many year round festivals for locals and visitors to enjoy and learn. This area is rich in natural resources, allowing for many environmental based festivals especially during April in celebration of Earth Day.
In 2008, concerns were expressed by multiple groups and citizens about the lack of an earth day festival in Walton County, FL even though they were in neighboring counties. Brooke then began finding a way to meet this need for the citizens of her county. After searching for six months for a free location to hold the festival, she created a valuable partnership with Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. The partnership with the state park provided man power, a free location, and existing volunteer groups. In 2009, with a starting budget of $200, the first Walton County Earth Day Festival was created. Brooke gained support and created partnerships with multiple local non-profit organizations, extension agents from multiple disciplines, community leaders, government agencies and local businesses.
She was able to set her festival apart from others by creating a strictly education focus. All of the booths had to be interactive with an educational message allowing for participants to be engaged while learning about flora, fauna, and natural resources. Sustainability was also a theme that was incorporated into the event. There was no bottled water, instead water stations were set up and participants were supplied with festival logoed reusable cups embossed with recycling information. Also, participants were greeted with reusable shopping bags when they arrived. The festival program served as an education guide with facts and interactive puzzles for children that could be of use outside of the event. The addition of guided hikes and storytelling gave youth and adults a variety of learning methods to choose from while enjoying the surroundings. In partnership with the Family and Consumer Science Agent, cooking demonstrations were also provided. This brought in local chefs, agents, and even 4-H youth to teach the participants about healthy and local cooking and eating, as well as, taste testing. The entire event and all the activities were free of charge including the park entrance fee for the day.
The following year, 2010, Brooke and her partners decided to promote healthy lifestyles even more and attempt to increase attendance with the addition of the 5K run/walk. This utilized the local track club who partnered in putting the race on prior to the festival. The Walton County Earth Day Festival has now completed its third year and will continue as a prized event for the community. Brooke has served as creator, organizer, race director, and teacher for all three years.
The organizing committee grows each year in addition to the donations and budget for the event. Brooke created an incentive based survey to entice participants to share what they learned and how to improve the event for the next year. This is done by dedicated volunteers who stroll around the grounds with surveys and clipboards asking people to fill out in exchange for a door prize. They were available on certain booth tables as well. Within the individual events, such as the cooking demonstrations, smaller specific knowledge based surveys were created to gauge the effectiveness of the activities. Through collection of contact info and follow up contact, as well as repeat attendees, impacts will be collected in the subsequent years.
Throughout the three years of this event approximately 1,800 citizens have been reached. Participants indicated knowledge increase and behavior changes as a result of attending these events. Children have been documented in describing how much they learned and how their interest in science was sparked at the event. Over $15,000 in monetary and in-kind donations have been collected for the event, as well as, the value of the time donated by more than 100 volunteers over the three years.
South Walton County is an area with a small population but a large national visitor appeal. Having an opportunity like this for locals and visitors is an important factor in keeping the sustainability initiative and natural resources issues on everyone’s mind. Brooke created this event in response to a need. She has demonstrated an ability to bring together different interests focused on one common goal and each year the event become larger and stays up to date on current issues. Evaluation of the program has been done in a variety of ways to ensure the effectiveness is being captured. A design like this event is transferable state and nationwide. This type of event promotes networking, community development, and strong partnerships. This approach took the simple festival idea and incorporated extension goals and techniques to provide a solid fun educational experience for everyone.
